Dead Rising: The Mercuny Incident
by Satou Asahira
Summary: Everyone took Frank West's story as a joke. They never even would have guessed that it would hit again, so soon after the first incident. Based off an RP on the RRR forums.
1. March 20: 7 AM to 10 AM

"_And yet he complained that his belly was not full."_

**7:00 AM**

**Kyle's apartment**

_Beep beep beep. _The alarm clock rang at precisely seven o'clock. Time to wake up. The man beneath the blanket blindly groped for the turnoff button, which also switched on the radio. A DJ began speaking in a cheerful voice no one should have this early in the morning.

"_Goooooood morning, Mercuny! This is M-C-Y Radio and today is...phew! Friday at last! Rise and shine, the weekend is here at last! Today's weather report is sunny all day long! Perfect for a picnic in the park! But tomorrow may get foggy in the afternoon. Now! On with the news!"_

As the DJ gave way to a newscaster, Kyle hopped out of bed and shuffled towards his closet. He slowly changed out of his pajamas and slid into his work uniform. Black pants, black shoes, and a white shirt with "Fry's" stamped on the chest. The sunlight coming in from a window reflected off a display case near his closet. Inside was his prized Ares Predator IV pistol. It was a memento of sorts.

He was about to switch off his radio when an interesting piece of news came on. "_And here's our reporter directly from Washington interviewing Frank West, a survivor from the alleged zombie outbreak in Willamete, Colorado._ Kyle decided to listen a bit longer. "_So, Frank...Our listeners should all be asking themselves 'zombies?'. Could you please clarify that statement?"_

Another man began talking in a very serious tone, presumably Frank West. _"I've already explained it in my article. The details in there show all that transpired during the event. If you really want to know more, then you'll just have to go check it out for yourself. The only thing I have to say is: Everyone, please be careful. It could happen again in any town, anytime."_

With that, Kyle switched off the radio and left his apartment. He decided he would check out the article if he got the chance. He took the elevator down and exited the building, looking for any nearby newspaper stands. He found a kid selling newspapers on a street corner and bought a copy. He entered a Starbucks that was close to the corner and ordered coffee. Then, he took his drink and sat down at a table to read his paper.

The entire paper was nearly completely filled with photos and articles about the incident at Willamete. Photos of half-rotten people walking around a mall, survivors fleeing in terror, there was even a strange picture of a clown with two chainsaws. Below that was West's statement about the outbreak. "_Despite the fact that the government was the creator of the virus that causes zombification, they had very little to do with the Willamete incident. It was brought about by a man named Carlito Keyes, whose hometown of Santa Cabeza was destroyed by the virus. Also-"_

Kyle scoffed at the paper and tossed it into a trashcan. He left Starbucks and boarded a bus to Fry's Electronics.

**7:15 AM**

**Bus heading towards downtown**

_Out here in the field_

_ I fight for my meals_

_ I get back into my living_

Jaydis sang along to his favorite song and hit the repeat button on his portable player. As did, he glanced at his wristwatch. Late again. His boss always tells him that Jaydis was the only person he knew that could live thirty seconds down the hall from work and still manage to show up twenty minutes late.

"Seriously, Randolph! Two breakfast burritos for the price of one! Who could pass that up?" he said to himself, rehearsing his excuse. He knew his boss was going to be waiting for him to take over his overnight shift, probably not with a smile on his face. Jaydis smiled at the lady sitting across from him on the bus. She was staring at him, wondering who he was talking to. He took a bite out of his third burrito and eyed the newspaper the woman was reading. He squinted to get a better look. Did he see the word "zombie"? The bus was bumping around too much for him to make out any of it clearly but he cracked a smile at the thought.

Jaydis grabbed his faded denim jacket and stood up as he felt the bus begin to slow down. This was his stop. He shoved the rest of his burrito into his mouth and took yet another out of his pocket. "Here, let's trade," he said around a mouthful of what he considered heaven on Earth. He dropped the burrito on the lady's lap and snatched her newspaper. "Thanks," he said and quickly hopped off the bus. He leaned up against a building and read the paper. He could have waited a couple extra minutes to read it at work and arrive at least a little less late but why wait when he could now? He bit open the wrapping on his last breakfast burrito and took a bite while reading the paper with his free hand.

Is this for real? The article went into detail about a zombie outbreak, complete with photographs. There was no way it was true. It had to be some sort of massive prank or scare. It was surely all a hoax.

"Zombies, seriously? That would be too good to be true." Jaydis chuckled to himself and tossed the paper in a trash can and continued walking.

_Don't cry_

_Don't raise your eyes_

_It's only a teenage wasteland_

"**You're thirty minutes late**," Jaydis was expecting to hear a deep voice boom. Most were intimidated by Randolph and with good reason. He was a big, burly man who used to participate in cage fighting several years ago. A severe leg injury forced him to quit which led to him opening up his own tavern. It took in just enough business to stay afloat, mostly surviving off of loyal customers with enough life problems to warrant a drowning of reality on a regular basis. Jaydis was never afraid of Randolph however. He knew that he was a big softie on the inside. But walking in, he saw that he had even less to fear. It was Reid standing there pointing out Jaydis's tardiness rather than Randolph.

"How do you do it Jaydis? You live right above this place," Reid said. Jaydis held up the last piece of the burrito and Reid rolled his eyes and nodded. "Good deal on them, I know, I know. Should have known when I saw it advertised." He grabbed the burrito and ate it before Jaydis had a chance to finish it then took his jacket too. It was too for him and was the source of some mockery at school but like every morning, Reid swung it on over his shoulders. "I have to go to school. I'm so going to be late now, no thanks to you."

"Why're you still here anyways? Where's Randolph?"

"You know the old man's obsession with conspiracies. As soon as he saw the newspaper, he mumbled something took off to pick up every other paper in town," Reid said quickly and promptly headed to the door. He waved and Jaydis followed suit before taking his place behind the counter.

He peeked underneath the counter. The handgun was still there, for protection against robbers, as well as some extra ammo that wasn't there before. Randolph must be taking this zombie thing seriously.

Jaydis scoffed. Even if an outbreak did happen, so what? Last time he played Resident Evil 2, zombies were just slow-walking, mindless chickenbutts. Surely they haven't changed since then. He could just walk by and give them a wave hello since they wouldn't even catch him. He was always overconfident in himself. He chuckled a bit and pushed the over hyped zombies out of his mind. It was doubtful there would be any customers this early but Jaydis manned the counter nevertheless.

**7:30 AM**

**Sam's Apartment**

_SCHREEE!! SCHREEE!! SCHREE!! _The alarm clock's shrill cry pierced the morning air. Sam, already half-awake, jumped in surprise. He slowly reached over and flicked the off switch. He got up from his bed, put on his pants, and walked to his dresser. He passed his sword cabinet which contained his most valuable possession: his katana. He found a plain back t-shirt and slipped it on. He sat on the edge of his bed while he put on his socks then put his sneakers on. He pocketed his buck folding knife from his nightstand and headed out the front door. He decided to take the elevator from the 7th floor down to the entrance. He gives a friendly nod to as passing elderly woman, well into her late 60's.

He didn't have to be at work until nine o'clock so he figured he could spare fifteen more minutes. There was a Starbucks knock-off just outside his apartment building and he went inside. He hated coffee and instead, opted for a Monster energy drink. Upon bringing his purchase to the counter, a disturbing picture caught his eye.

"What the hell?" He said to himself and picked up the newspaper. "Zombie outbreaks?" He put the paper on the counter as well.

"$2.89," the cashier said, obviously bored, after ringing up the items. Sam paid the man and exited the building and boarded bus number 460. It would take him clear across town, the shortest route to work. As he took his seat, he noticed the bus was fairly full. Seated next to a young woman, maybe mid-30's, he took out his paper, cracked open his energy drink, and began reading.

The headline proclaimed that a zombie infestation in Willamete, Colorado was triggered by a terrorist attack and single-handedly brought the entire population to its knees. "Wow," he breathed quietly and read Frank West's reports. Apparently, zombie's weren't the only things that worried the journalist. There was a cult dressed in raincoats and Special Forces was called in. Other people had lost their minds and rampaged around the mall. Some major crazies included, but didn't stop at: an old Vietnam veteran, a mentally unstable clown wielding two small chainsaws, an insane supermarket owner, and three escaped convicts who took over a military vehicle. Frank West was reportedly able to subdue these people through force for the safety of himself and the other survivors.

After he finished reading, Sam tossed the newspaper in the now vacant seat next to him and waited idly for the bus to arrive at his stop. He shifted uncomfortably. "What if it's all true and not some kind of hoax?" he asked himself under his breath. The bus screeched to a halt and he rose to his feet. He nodded to the driver as he exited the bus and made his way down the block to the dojo where he worked.

He was greeted by the dojo's master when he arrived and instantly went to get changed into his uniform. Afterward, he grabbed a broom to sweep the floors a bit before the students arrived.

When that was done, he set down the matting as students arrived and were called for attendance. His day had just begun but he had a feeling something was going to go down soon. Something that involved the Willamete incident. Although, he was probably a bit paranoid after reading the paper. He calmed down his nerves and focused his attention on the work ahead.

**7:50 AM**

**Fry's Electronics**

Kyle had just arrived at Fry's and already one his colleagues was in his face blathering about the news. "Hey! Have you heard abou-"

Kyle interrupted him. "Yes, yes, zombies. Horrible accident. I read the paper and don't want to talk about it," Kyle said as he walked to his post.

"Idiot..." his coworker muttered quietly.

Kyle sat down, but decided he wanted to watch TV until the shop opened. He went to the store's television display only to find that every channel had something to do about the Willamete incident. _Great,_ he thought to himself. _Looks like this is gonna be the news of the year..._ He found he'd rather go back to his chair and simply wait until the store opened.

**8:00 AM**

**Mercuny Hospital**

"Doctor, his vitals are dropping rapidly!" The hospital had every staff member on call and the majority of them were searching frantically through records to try and find procedures for this new pandemic. "DOCTOR!"

"I know! I know!" the doctor shouted angrily. "I'm doing everything I can!" The patient's skin was pale and he kept having spasms. All the while, his heartbeat was fading.

"Doctor! We're losing hi-!"

_Piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii _The EKG flat-lined and the doctor quickly grabbed the defibrillators. "Clear!" he shouted and jolted the body. Nothing. "Clear!" But it was too late. The doctor sighed. "Time of death: 8:10 AM, Friday, March 20th." He looked at the body on the table with regret. "Get that body out of here," he ordered the other medics. "We have other patients coming."

**8:00 AM**

**Satou's Apartment**

_Brrrrrriiiiinnnnnggggg. _Satou punched the alarm clock off of the desk. It landed on the floor with a clang and promptly shut up. He looked up at his computer monitor. Random strings of letters and number now covered his latest story. Looks like he fell asleep on his keyboard again. He sighed and pushed down on the backspace key. Once that was taken care of, he finished the last sentence and saved the document. He brought up another window to check on his Final Fantasy XI character. Luckily, he had fallen asleep while in a city so he wasn't dead. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and looked at the chat log to see if anyone was running any missions he needed. The log was flying as people were discussing something.

_ do u think its 4 real?_

_ no way its a joke_

_ its a little much for a joke_

Satou began typing to the people online.

Satou: _hey guys, what's everyone talking about?_

_ you didn't hear?_

Satou: _i fell asleep at my desk and just woke up lol_

_ turn on the news dude_

He turned on the TV across the room and watched a report of a zombie outbreak or something like that. He realized he didn't get as much sleep as would have liked and was suddenly overcome with exhaustion. He no longer cared about the news. He powered down his computer and fell onto the couch and immediately went back to sleep.

**9:30 AM**

**Satou's Apartment**

Satou awoke with a start. He had a dream where zombies were chasing him and a group of people who were apparently the only survivors after an outbreak. In his dream, he tripped and twisted his ankle and the zombies were right behind them. One of the members of the group turned around to help him but another put a hand on her shoulder to stop her. Tears welled up in the girl's eyes but she wiped them away and left Satou to die like the others. He called after them but no one stopped and all he could do was cry as the zombies got ever closer.

He rubbed his face with his hands and was surprised to find he had cried in his sleep. "Baby," he said to himself and grabbed the clock up off the floor to check the time. "9:30?! Crap!" He jumped up off the couch and bolted into his room to look for a clean pair of pants. After tearing through his drawers, he found none. "Guess, I'll just wear these one's again."

He dashed out the front door. He was on his way to meet a talent agent who had taken interest in a story Satou had published in a magazine and wanted to talk about a contract over brunch. He was supposed to be there at 9 o'clock sharp. He ran outside and slid down the railing on the stairs down to the ground floor. He ran outside and straight into a middle aged man walking on the sidewalk, knocking them both to the ground.

"Sorry! "Sorry!" Satou said as he got up and helped the man to his feet. His hand was extremely cold and on closer inspection, frighteningly pale. "You don't look good, buddy," Satou told the man. "You should get home and rest. So sorry about running into you." The man looked at him with empty eyes, as if he couldn't understand what Satou was saying to him. "Here, get in my car. I'll give you a ride." Satou helped him into the passenger seat of his car. "Where do you live?"

"Not too far," the man croaked. "Cyprus Court."

"You got it, Mac," Satou said and grabbing his lucky hat from the backseat. "Hang on, I'll get you there in no time flat." He backed out of the parking lot and sped off.

**This section concludes at 9:42 AM, March 20****th****.**


	2. March 20: 2:30 PM to 6:05 PM

**2:30 PM**

**Outside a Restaurant**

The restaurant Satou was supposed to be meeting the talent agent at had been closed all day apparently. He was a little glad but disappointed at the same time. This meant he wasn't going to be busted for being late...but it also meant he may have missed his big break. He had helped that guy earlier so he hoped that counted as penance for the meeting. He got in his car and decided to just go back home and get some writing done.

**3:00 PM **

**Kyle's Apartment**

Kyle had just got home from work and decided to turn on the radio again. He changed out of his uniform into a white shirt, red jacket, and blue jeans. He was about to leave to grab some food when the radio again caught his attention.

_"Thi-This is M-C-Y Radio! Transmitting live from Mercuny's streets where a horde of cannibals has started has started attacking anyone who goes near them! The citizens are a-AAAHHHH!!" _A loud moan was heard, followed by wet, tearing sounds and a big thud as something hit the ground. Several screams and more moans were heard in the background.

_Shit, it's already begun," _Kyle thought. He went over to his pistol's display case and removed it. He then took five clips of ammo from the drawer beneath the case and put them in his coat pockets. He was quickly headed for the door when he heard someone banging on the other side. He slowly walked over to the door with his pistol ready. He used one hand to open the door and the other to point his gun at whatever may be on the other side.

"Kyle!" a man shouted. "Don't shoot! Don't shoot!"

Kyle lowered the gun. "Identify yourself next time. I was ready to kill you. What do you want?"

The man was exasperated. "Wha-What do I want?! Dude! Those cannibals are all over the place. They said one of them got into the building! We gotta get out of here!" Kyle sighed and nodded.

Suddenly, a zombie jumped on the man and started tearing at the man's neck with its teeth. Kyle switched his pistol to burst fire and fired three well-aimed shots right at the zombie's head, killing it instantly.

The man, still alive, covered his wound with one hand and tried to stand. "Don't just stand there! Come on! Help me up!"

"Sorry," Kyle said and shot the man. He switched his pistol to semi-automatic fire and left his apartment to search for survivors.

**3:30 PM**

**Outside Satou's Apartment**

There were large groups of people running through the streets. Satou just watched as he walked up the stairs to his apartment. When he reached the top, he stopped dead in his tracks. There was a building on fire in the distance and more people were running from it. He heard screams coming from far away.

"Aw, man...," he said nervously and ran into his apartment and turned on both his desktop computer and his laptop. As he began transferring his important files to his laptop, a man walked in through the door Satou had left open. "Come on, baby," Satou was saying to his computers, oblivious to the intruder. "You can do it. Come on." He felt a hand fall on his shoulder and he froze. He looked behind him to stare right into the face of death itself. He let out a high-pitched scream and ran into his kitchen. The man just stood in front of the computers, silent. "You scared the shit out of me," Satou said with a sigh. Save it for Halloween." The man started to walk towards the kitchen but tripped on a cord and pulled both computers off of the desk.

"Claire! Rebecca! Noooo! What did you do to them?!" Satou screamed and grabbed a knife from the kitchen counter. "You son of a bitch!" He ran towards the man but he was already up off the ground and grabbed him. Satou swung the knife instinctively and sliced across the man's face. He didn't even seem to feel it. The computers beeped to signal that the transfer was complete and Satou kicked the man off of him. He grabbed his laptop and ran. "I'll be back for you, Rebecca! I swear!" He called to his desktop computer as he ran outside to his car.

**5:00 PM**

**Apartment Complex Entrance**

_ No one. Well, that could be a good thing. Hopefully everyone's already far away by now. Lucky me, that thing was the only infected in the whole building._ While searching for survivors in his building, Kyle had found another pistol, a beretta and a few 10mm rounds. Probably forgotten when the owner left in a hurry. He loaded it and pointed it around, testing the weight and mobility. _Two are far better than one, _he thought. He left the building and immediately found a group of survivors running down the street. He ran over to them.

"Hey! Where are you all heading to?" he asked.

"Somewhere! Anywhere but here!" one answered without even looking at Kyle and kept running.

"Randomly running will just get you killed!" Kyle called but no one paid him any attention. _I hate panicked civilians. _He needed to find someplace with food and ammo. He remembered Frank West's words. _Everyone, please be careful. It could happen again in any town, anytime._ Didn't West survive by being inside a shopping mall? If it was good enough for West, it was good enough for Kyle. He decided to head to Mercuny Mall on foot.

**5:00 PM**

**Mercuny City Police Station**

"Ah, fuck." Officer Grant hung up the phone and turned around to face his partner. "Andrew, we got a call about some deal going down of 51st Street. Sounds like standard shit to me, but the Captain insists that I have you come with me."

"Christ..." Andrew muttered. "Fine, whatever. The two walked toward their car and got in, not knowing that this trip would change their lives forever.

They arrived at 51st Street. It was a dirty place, filled with litter and the stench of failure. As they look out their windows, they see a few pedestrians walking aimlessly through the streets. Their clothes appear worn and ripped, as if they were in a struggle of some sort.

"Shit, this place has really gone down the drain since we were last here," Andrew casually remarked. "Better stay alert."

They pulled up outside the house where the deal was supposedly going down. They got out of their car and were instantly assaulted by an unpleasant odor. A dark shadow darted from behind the house.

Grant spoke, slightly unsettled. "What the hell was that?"

"Goddam pussy!" Andrew laughed. "Running home to his fucking mama!" He around back without hesitation. Grant started to follow but stopped and drew his gun when the front door flew open. A tall, slim figure appeared in the doorway. Grant was shocked to see blood trailing from its torso.

He spoke into his radio. "We need paramedics out here right now! Address 047 51st Street. We have a suspect bleeding heavily from his mid-section." Gunfire rang out. "Shit, Andrew!" He dashed to where he had seen his partner go. To his luck, Andrew was unharmed. But there was a dead body laying on the damp grass not to far from him. "What the fuck, man?! Chief is going to be so fucking pissed when he hears about this."

"You don't understand," Andrew said defensively. "She was coming at me and...and I had no choice! She was so damn fast. What do you think she was on?"

"No clue," Grant replied. "But we should check out the rest of the-" The body began to moan. Definitely not something you would normally hear from a dying person. This was more like the hungry growl of a wild animal. Not human in the slightest. Grant had been an officer for seven years of his life and had hardened over time. This incident didn't surprise him. "Shoot her again," he said like the cold-blooded bastard he was. "The last thing this town needs is a another half-dead heroine addict. Hell, there's no way I'm filing any paperwork for this bitch."

Andrew did as he was told and shot her in the dead. She had to be dead this time. Andrew tried to hide his remorse for the loss of human life but it didn't fool Grant.

"Don't be a fucking pussy. The bitch probably had no life anyway. Besides, who would really care if another good-for-nothing died for no reason." Andrew supposed this was Grant's way of saying "Hey, you did what you had to and I'm just glad you're ok." but it did nothing to soothe him. Grant caught on and decided not to say anything more about the subject. "Just get into the fucking car."

Andrew nodded. He was more sympathetic to these people than his partner for good reason. He had a loving family at home. A perfect world where everything was nice and innocent and his kids could grow up without fear. He learned over the eight months of his police career to never let his two lives conflict. He would keep the perfect, perfect and the ugly, ugly.

Grant spoke. "We should go back into that house. We still got some fuckers to cap." They started to walk back towards the house when they saw something out of the corner of their eyes that stunned them. There was a multitude of wandering, soulless bodies walking down 51st Street. "This must be every fucker and his mother out here..." Grant said in awe when he was finally able to speak again. "What the fuck is going on?"

"This isn't real," Andrew said. "this isn't fucking real. Forget about this place. Let's just get back into the goddam car, and get the fuck out of here." Grant noticed the tall man from before as he was walking back to the car. He was in a corner, eating a rabbit or some sort of small animal. He looked a bit closer.

"No...no rabbit," he told himself. He could make out arms, and legs, and hair and....clothes. "Jesus Christ...they're cannibals."

Andrew wasn't listening but he must have seen. He had the same fear-stricken look on his face that his partner had. Just before they got back into their car, the ambulance Grant had called for arrived. It stopped a few blocks away, unable to go any further due to the large amount of people walking in the streets. It was overturned and the drivers were pulled out and attacked by the people. There was nothing neither Grant nor Andrew could do. They got in the car. Without a word, Grant started the car and drove, their lives forever changed.

**5:45 PM**

**Streets**

Satou had just been driving around the city, looking for people who were alive and preferably sane. However, such people were in short supply. Most of them were either gone or hidden and on one would let him in their little safe houses.

"If they knew I was a genius they'd let me in," he said with a sniff. He was on the verge of tears. Everyone had been so mean to him when they told him they wouldn't let him in and it sort of hurt his feelings. He was a sensitive guy. "I'm gonna have my own safe house. And I won't let them in. And they're gonna wish they had been a lot nicer. He was nearing the mall and he figured he'd go there to be alone. He had loved the place before things got crazy. "At least I got you, Claire," he said and patted his laptop. He looked up and saw a group of zombies lumbering towards his car.

Anger suddenly overcame him. He put the car in neutral and revved the engines. Then he threw it into drive and tore through the zombies, figuring he'd blow off some steam by murdering a couple hundred of the bastards before heading to the mall.

**5:52 PM**

**Streets Near Mercuny Mall**

Kyle decided to take a shortcut through an alley. He was nearly at the end of it when zombies started appearing, block his path. _Crap, bad shortcut._ He aimed his prized Ares Predator IV at them and began backing away. He heard more moaning and turned around to see more of them coming from the way he had just moments ago. _Great. _He was standing between to groups of rapidly nearing groups of zombies, pointing a gun at each. _Ok, God. I know I'm not exactly a saint...but can you give me a hand now? _One of the zombies threw something at him. He easily dodged it then knelt to see what it was. It was an arm with the palm spread out as if it was reaching for him. _Harhar, jackass._

**6:00 PM**

**Randolph's Place**

_Their faces gaunt_

_ Their eyes were blurred_

_ Their shirts all soaked with sweat_

_ He's riding hard to catch that herd_

_ But he ain't caught 'em yet_

Jaydis was barely able to hear the song over his heavy breath. He eyes were as big as saucers but his pupils were needle tips and it didn't look like he was going to blink anytime soon. He was sitting behind the counter, his back leaning against a wooden beam, hugging his knees to his chest. He had a small spat of blood on his cheek. It was dry and caked, having been there for hours. How long had he been sitting there for?

_As the riders loped on by him he heard one call his name_

_ If you want to save your soul from Hell a-riding on our range_

He was sitting as stiff as a board, yet every muscle in his body would convulse uncontrollably at random. What...was that? He'd never seen anything like that in his life. Its eyes were so empty, its movements and mannerisms were so primitive. And fast...It came at him so fast. He thought for sure that was it, that he was going to die right then and there.

Jaydis was a lanky and scrawny kid. He didn't work out or was very active. He didn't have very many skills as far as self-defense went. If it wasn't for that handgun Randolph always left under the counter...

That thing had staggered into the into the tavern, though it can't even be said that it staggered. It more or less hit the door open, fell, then caught its balance. Jaydis had tried asking it if it was ok and offered it his help, but it was so...Vacant. It showed no signs of registering Jaydis's words. It just stood there, swaying slightly from side to side, growling. That was the only word he could use to describe the sound. A low animal-like growl. Primitive and inhuman.

When he went around the counter to offer help, the thing ran at him with frightening speed. It was so terribly fast. It tried to bite Jaydis but he somehow managed to shove it away into a table. It ran at him again but Jaydis moved in time to avoid it and shoved a few chairs in front of him in a week attempt to hinder it. He thought for sure he would be killed. But...he felt something else. Something strange. He had laughed. While he was fighting for his life, had he laughed...?

Jaydis closed his eyes, remembering the sudden rush he felt. Did he enjoy it? He sat there, frightened at his own reaction to the thing. When the thing was running at him, growling like a rabid animal, he had looked at the thing and laughed. His adrenaline rush drowned his fear and he acted purely on instinct, laughing a cold, dry laugh. He managed to jump behind the counter and grab the handgun. And he shot it...twice in the gut and once in the head...And it went down...He killed it....He actually killed a living thing. And didn't feel a hint of regret while do so. It frightened him. What kind of person laughs when killing another? That's when the rush wore off and he slid down to the floor.

Jaydis's face twitched and finally snapped him out of his daze. He grabbed the handgun on the floor beside him and stood up. He tried to calm down. His breath was still loud and heavy.

He remembered the newspaper. Could this have been what it was talking about? He turned down the volume on his MP3 player to see if he could hear anything on the radio that Randolph usually leaves on. He felt a warm tear run down the side of his face as he heard more and more about these cannibalistic attacks all over the city. He wasn't like these heroes in movies and video games. He couldn't rewind or start a new game.

"Shit..." he muttered and firmly brought his hand down on the floor. "Shit...shit..." He began lightly punching the floor, then pounding as hard as he could with closed fists. "SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! SHIIIIIIT!!!" Jaydis gave the floor one last hit before stopping. He wiped his knuckles on his shirt, they had begun bleeding from punching the solid wood floor.

Were there more of those things out there? According to the radio...Reid.

"Reid," Jaydis said to himself. Reid always came to the tavern right after he was done with school to spend time with Jaydis. He hadn't come home yet today. Hadn't even called. Jaydis tore through his pockets, searching frantically for his cell phone and immediately dialed Reid's number. It kept ringing. "Answer...Reid...Come on, answer, answer...ANSWER YOU ASSHOLE!!" He flipped his cell phone shut then hurled it on the floor beside him. Calm down...He had to calm down...This was unlike him, Jaydis never worried about anything.

"Calm down, chickenbutt...Stop being such a loser..." Jaydis chuckled and stood up, his thin legs were finally able to support him. He put his phone back in his pocket and kept the handgun in his hand. He didn't care about himself, but Reid...He walked calmly to the door, uncertain of what to expect to see outside and threw it open. He walked outside, shouting Reid's name.

_Yippie yi ohhhh Yippie yi yayyyyy Ghost riders in the sky_

**This section concludes at 6:05 PM, March 20****th****.**


	3. March 20: 6:05 PM to 7:35 PM

**6:05 PM**

**Streets Outside Mercuny Mall**

_ That's it, I guess," _Kyle thought. He didn't know how he was going to get out of this one. _I'm going to get killed for being so careless. I should have-_ His thoughts were interrupted by a car plowing through the zombies at the end of the alleyway towards the mall.

The driver reached in and threw open the passenger door. "Get in!" he yelled.

Kyle didn't need to be told twice. He shot a couple of the zombies behind him and booked it to the car. He dove into the car and slammed the door shut. "WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! GO GO GO!!"

Satou was more than happy to comply. He floored the accelerator and took out some more zombies with his car. The guy next to him looked sane and unhurt. Better yet, he was armed. Satou drove around a bit to clear out more zombies then circled back to the mall entrance. The zombies weren't moving all that fast and they were still pretty far away but it wouldn't stay like that for long.

"Here's our stop, buddy," he said to the man next to him. "Hope you don't mind hanging out at the mall with me." With that, he got out of the car and quickly walked towards the entrance.

Kyle got out and followed him, keeping an eye out for zombies. "Not at all. Believe it or not, I was heading here anyways." He looked Satou over for bite marks. _He seems clean._ "Here." He handed Satou the beretta. "You'll need this. You know how to use a gun, right?" He hastily pantomimed reloading the gun. "Each magazine has ten rounds, don't waste them." He handed over two magazines. "Now, moving on..."

He tried to open the front door. Locked. _Figures. At least the security isn't stupid._

An elderly man appeared on the other side of the door looking scared. "You're...You're not one of them...Are you...?" he asked in a shaky voice.

Kyle sighed. It's impressive how ignorant people can be when their frightened. "If we were, we'd be moaning and banging on the door. Open up already."

The man, apparently a janitor judging by his uniform, fished the keys from his pocket and opened the door. As soon as Kyle and Satou were inside, he quickly closed and locked the door again. "Now, um...everyone is gathered in the security room."

Kyle nodded. "You." He pointed to Satou. "Go check out the survivors. If any were bitten, shoot them."

"What?!" Satou cried.

"Those things reproduce by infecting others through open wounds such as bites and scratches. Once the virus gets into your bloodstream, game over. There's no cure. Other than a bullet to the brain." He paused and sighed again. "I'm going to go have a look around." He walked off and left Satou and the janitor alone.

**6:17 PM**

**Sam's Apartment**

Sam burst through his door and locked all three locks. Then he ran for his radio and turned it on, hoping to hear anything besides doom and gloom. He was disappointed.

_"Breaking news!"_ exclaimed a reporter. Everyone thought that their report was breaking news, but it seemed like it had been years since Sam first heard about the so-called zombie outbreak. _Cannibalistic attacks have been occurring for the past half-hour downtown. A few of the attacked victims have reportedly escaped with minor bite wounds causes by other humans. They are being sent to Mercuny General Hospital for further treatment. In possibly related news, blackouts sweep downtown. Most of the city has lost power. At the time of this newscast, city officials are looking into both events._

"Shit! What the hell? _Cannibals?!_" Sam said to himself. He silently made his across his small apartment to his bed and lifted the mattress. Underneath was an illegally obtained USP45 9mm pistol. He purchased it a few years back for protection but until now hadn't had a need to use it. He loaded it and put it on his nightstand. Then he put his extra three clips next to it. "I better stay up late, if only to see what happens," he said and pulled the radio closer to him. He put a bowl of instant noddles into the microwave. As the strong scent of ramen began to fill his apartment, he listened to reports of dismembered bodies littering the streets and groups numbering in the hundreds wandering around aimlessly. Could this be what Frank West was talking about? It had to be a joke. It just _had_ to.

_BANG! _Someone was pounding on his door. What a pain. He started to get up. _BANG!_

_ "_I'm coming!" Sam yelled, walking towards the door. He unbolted two of the locks but left the chain so he could peer outside. "Can I help-?" Before he could finish, the man on the other side smashed up against the door again, almost breaking the chain. "What the hell?! You'll break my door!" Sam exclaimed angrily. The man only moaned and slammed up against the door again. The chain wasn't going to hold much longer. Who was this guy? A robber? Or...?

Sam stepped back and grabbed the aluminum bat he kept behind the door. "I'm warning you. I'm adept in martial arts. I can be considered a lethal weapon unarmed. If you come any closer, I will attack," he declared, as was the law with martial artists. The man replied by breaking down the door. Sam swung the bat at the man's ribs. He crumpled to the floor. Sam inspected the body. It was covered in blood from various wounds. _Who is this guy? Is he one of the-?_

Sam's thoughts were cut short when the man grabbed his ankle. Sam jumped back and the man somehow managed to get back on his feet. _What the hell?! _Sam thought. _That attack should have broken his ribs! How is he up?! What is going on?!_ Sam yelled and ran at the man. He swung the bat with all his might and took the head clean off. Blood spewed from the wound and covered the walls of his apartment. He slammed his door shut and locked it again. Then he picked up the phone and dialed 911.

_"This service is temporarily out of order," _said a mechanical voice. _"Please try again later."_

_ Since when is an emergency service out of order? _he thought to himself. _I gotta get out of here. _He went back to his room and took the pistol and ammo. Once that was in order, he went to the sword cabinet and removed his katana. He then grabbed a bag and stuff his cell phone, some food, the ammo and an extra set of clothes. He slung the bag and his katana over his shoulder. He looked at the body for a moment then went out into the night.

"Gotta find a place with supplies. Something's taken over the entire city. Should I go to a grocery store? No, too many windows. And a lot of people will likely have already gathered there," Sam said to himself as he ran. That's when it hit him. "The mall. There will be plenty of food there. And it's big enough so that it won't be crowded even if half the city was in there." He made it out to the streets without seeing a single zombie, surprisingly.

Once he was outside however, he found what seemed to be hundreds of the things. He immediately ran back inside and locked the door. "I need another way out..." he said and looked around. There was a small convenience stand in the lobby and he saw they had Monster energy drinks. He put a six-pack in his bag then cracked open and down a seventh. Now he was ready. He hopped over the counter and opened the door. It led to a loading bay.

Inside, he found a rig with a mid-sized trailer. He checked the interior of the cab. The keys were still inside. He hit a nearby switch to open the garage door then hopped in and started it up. The loud engine grabbed the attention of the zombies outside. He placed his sword and backpack in the seat next to him and tore out of the garage.

**6:23 PM**

**Streets**

Jaydis wandered aimlessly in the middle of a street, kicking a can as he staggered along. Where was everyone? He wasn't sure if he liked being a street baron or not. He supposed this all-too-quiet world was better than seeing another one of those canni- "_Groooannnnngghgh"_

The groan was quickly followed by several footsteps that almost sounded as if they were running. Jaydis cringed and turned his head around. The groans ans growls told him it wasn't a group of survivors running to help him out. He stood staring at the running horde for a moment before his self-preservation sense took hold. He fired a couple shots and smiled when he saw them drop. A few of the others tripped over their downed kin. There were too many of them though, he'd waste all of his bullets. His only alternative was to run. He didn't know where to and didn't care, but he wasn't planning on stopping.

"Oh God, Reid, Reid, I gotta find Reid. I gotta find Reid alive. I need to stay alive and find Reid...What the hell am I doing? What the hell, Jaydis?" he mumbled onto himself, trying to figure something out. Maybe the mall? The school? A grocery store? Who knows? They were big buildings, maybe he'd run into other survivors hiding out. That or they were already teeming with those crazy cannibals. He had to take a chance. He needed to find a safe place so he could take time to sort things out. Maybe Reid was way ahead of him and already found some place to bunker down?

He was running out of breath and was too tired to be surprised when he saw a cannibal walk out of an alleyway and head towards him, groaning and growling.

He stopped and raised his hand. "Hold it, hold it...Lemme catch my breath here. That way, it'll be a fair fi-AAIGHT!!" He quickly jumped to the side when the cannibal lunged at him and kick its side. He pulled the handgun out of his pocket and shot several times before finally hitting it in the head. He laughed. "Holy crap, I suck! I should just stick to running like hell if I want to survive!" He spotted a nearby bike on the sidewalk and jumped on it. He pedaled on, continuing down the streets still without a destination in mind.

**6:25 PM**

**Mall Entrance**

The man had given Satou a gun, sort of showed it how to reload it, then walked away. _If any were bitten, shoot them,_ the man had said. Was he for real? The gun felt like it easily weighed 100 pounds in Satou's hands. He supposed he should quit standing around and get to it. It certainly wouldn't do if the people he was holed up with tried to eat him. And his new....acquaintance for lack of a better word didn't seem like one to be fucked with.

He slid the gun into the waistband of his cargo pants like they did on TV. _I don't know how to work the safety,_ it occurred to him. He pulled it back out. He'd rather be stuck carrying it around than risk blowing his balls off. He turned to the janitor.

"I guess I should do what he says," he said. "Please take me to the security station." The janitor nodded and led the way. Satou noted that there were about ten people gathered in the room. "Has anyone been injured?" he asked in a toneless voice. "I...I know first aid," he quickly added. A little girl of about six stepped forward. Part of her arm was all torn up from bites and scratches. She was trying to hold back tears. "Fuck me..." Satou whined and took her hand. "Come on, honey, let's go to the bathroom and get you washed up." He led her out of the security station.

"Are there any more monsters around?" the little girl asked in a shy voice as they were walking.

_Aw, man...I can't do it," _Satou thought to himself. _She's just a little girl and she's too damn cute._

He looked around. "Nope," he said. "Don't see any." He smiled down at the girl. "I'll protect you if we do see any, though. I'm Satou, what's your name?"

"E-Ellie," the girl said timidly, blushing a little.

"E-Ellie? That's funny name."

She giggled. "Nooo! Just Ellie."

"Oh, ok. Nice to meet you Ellie." He took her into the bathroom. "Let's get this washed off," he said and began washing her arm with soap and water. She winced and let out a small cry. "I know it stings, but I gotta clean it so it'll get better. Then we can put some Band-Aid's or something on it, 'k?"

"'K," Ellie said glumly and watched as he scrubbed the wound.

"All done," Satou said and gently dried her arm. "We'll get some bandages when we get back." He suddenly remembered something. _Claire! Oh, my precious, beautiful Claire! Forgive me, I hath forsaken thee!_ "Ellie, I forgot something very important in my car. It's right out there in front of the door see?" He pointed and Ellie nodded. "I have to go back out and get it. It'll only take me like 30 seconds, I swear. Wait right here while I go get it, ok?" Ellie nodded again. It looked like the janitor had forgotten his keys when he locked the door again. Satou unlocked it and dashed outside. Ellie screamed when she saw a zombie shambling towards the car. "Stay away from Clair!" Satou shouted and shot the zombie in the head without hesitation. He ran and got his laptop then bolted inside and locked the door again.

"Who's Claire?" Ellie asked when he was back inside.

"My girlfriend, see?" He held up his laptop and she giggled again. "Let's go back to the others, kiddo. We'll find something to cover up that arm of yours." They started off towards the security station again.

Just then, a big rig crashed through the entrance. Ellie screamed. Satou's car had been thrown to the side. The truck wedged into the door, making it impossible for anything to get in or out.

"For fuck's sake!" Satou cried. "What the hell?! My car!" That was almost him. He missed being destroyed by that truck by mere moments. A man emerged from the cab holding a backpack and a katana. Satou aimed the gun at him. "Stop right there! Ellie! Get behind me!" She did as she was told. "Don't move..."

**6:32 PM**

**Outskirts of Mercuny City**

"Oh, fuck. This is taking too long," Andrew sighed. They had been driving for over an hour straight on the outskirts of town. The entire city had been sealed. Blockades were set up on every road leading outside and the military had set up a perimeter around the whole thing.

"Alright, alright," Grant said with a hint of discomfort. "Hopefully they can explain why no one's answering the goddam radio."

"I just hope my wife and kids are somewhere safe.." Andrew said. Paranoia was beginning to set in. "What the fuck do you think those things were?"

"I...I have no idea," Grant was already tired of talking. "Let's just head back to the station." He turned around and started heading back. They passed an apartment complex and observed the large congregation of undead. Three shots rang out from the apartment interior but neither officer paid them any heed. They just kept driving.

"Just a couple more blocks.." Andrew said, trying to reassure himself. "Just a couple more blocks and we're out of this shit. My wife probably went to the station when she realized I wasn't home. Yeah. And she took the kids. The chief will make sure they're alright. And the guys are there. Trenton, Jacob, Harris, Mor-"

"Shut the fuck up!" Grant roared impatiently. "Get it together, goddammit. Wake up and face reality. We're heading back to the station to load up on guns. Then we get the fuck out."

"Where do we go after that?" Andrew said, his voice full of resignation.

"I don't know," Grant said. "We try holing up ourselves in the...the city hospital."

"No," Andrew said. "That would be the first place these maniacs strike. What with all the helpless, dying people stuck there, it's as good as gone by now. What about the city mall?"

"Yeah..." Grant said, puzzled. It wasn't often that his partner had thought of a better idea. It was a new concept that he would need to learn to accept. "That's a very good idea." They drove for a couple more minutes before arriving at the station. They exited the vehicle and approached the building cautiously. There seemed to be only a small amount of the beasts here. They seemed to have something better to do than eat two police officers and wandered by. Grant was unsettled by this for some reason. He shrugged his shoulders and went inside.

The station was totally empty. Andrew called out a couple times but no one answered. Not ever a groan from the undead. They went to the armory after moment's hesitation and loaded up. Two pistols, one each. A standard issue riot cop gas canister, four for Grant and two for Andrew. Last but not least, a pump-action shotgun and a confiscated Uzi carbine.

Next, they grabbed various supplies, including medical kits and water bottles. Andrew grabbed an evidence bag while Grant was occupied with that. One pound of powdered cocaine. Andrew was good at keeping his addiction secret. The only person who had ever tried to stop him was his own conscience, and he had left that behind long ago.

They exited the building and returned to the car. It was time to go, the beasts were returning.

**6:41 PM**

**Mall Parking Lot**

Jaydis saw the truck blow by. "Holy shit," he breathed. It plowed right into the entrance, effectively sealing his was in. Still, he had to try. He saw a steel shovel lying on the ground, looking out of place. Maybe someone had tried using it already and dropped it. His aim with the gun was horrible so he figured maybe this would be better. He picked it up and continued through the parking lot. A zombie approached him and he smashed its head as soon as it was within striking distance. He laughed and stuck another in the temple. He was more or less enjoying this.

He knew he couldn't keep this up though, they were beginning to surround him and he was far from a skilled hero. He jumped up on the trunk of a car and decided to leap from roof to roof. The cars shook as he jumped and a couple of the creatures managed to work their way on top of one. "Stay down! Down, down! Shoo!" He shot one after failing to kick it off and jumped to the next car.

He reached the entrance and jumped down to the ground. He had some time before the zombies would catch up so he decided to inspect the truck. Upon closer examination, he noticed the was a small opening he could get through with some tricky maneuvering. It seemed like people would be capable of getting through with a little effort but none of the monsters would be smart enough to. He climbed in and immediately saw three people ahead of him.

_Humans! They're alive!_ Jaydis began waving his arms around going, "GRAARRRRGHGH!" in a poor imitation of the zombies as a practical joke before realizing the implications of the act. The humans turned to him. "I'm kidding! Kidding. I'm surviving and I see you all are too." And what a ragtag little gang this was. A tough-looking, sword-toting guy, an average joe with a pistol, and a little girl behind him. "Jaydis, by the way," h said, not realizing that he had just inadvertently ended a conflict between the two men here. "Name's Jaydis. Not Jay though, Gawd I hate that."

"Don't do that imitation anymore," Sam said calmly. "It doesn't suit you. It's good to know there are some living people who aren't trying to kill me. I'm Sam."

"Well, what the hell did you expect?" Satou asked, exasperated. He lowered his gun. "You come barreling through here in a motherfucking semi for Christ's sake and almost kill us, then hop out like it was nothing. Seeing as how we're all good friends now, I'm Satou Asahira and this is Ellie." Satou made sure to hide Ellie's arm. "We were on our way back to the security station where more survivors are holed up. Come with us."

"Doesn't seem like we got much of a choice," Sam said and flicked his long hair to the side. _Is he hiding that girl's arm for some reason or am I just imagining things? Oh well, probably not important._

"The more people that aren't lunging for my jugular, the better. Satou and Ellie-bellie-bo-bellie? Nice to meet you. Are there lots of people there?" Jaydis asked.

"I wanna know as well," Sam said, cutting off the beginning of Satou's answer.

"Not cool, chickenbutt," Jaydis said to Sam. He looked at Ellie. "We both know how uncool chickenbutts are, don't we?" He smiled.

Ellie giggled. "Mr. Jaydis is funny."

Satou sighed. "Moving on," he said with a hint of impatience. "There are about ten people besides me and this dude I came in with. He went out to scope the place out. He seemed like he knew what he was doing. He also asked me to check the survivors for injuries." He averted his eyes and prayed Ellie wouldn't say anything. "No one was too hurt. He still had to bandage her wound. The sword guy didn't seem like the type to show mercy in these kinds of situations, but Jaydis might. _No, _he thought. _I shouldn't involve anyone else. _"Come on, let's get going."

"Glad no one's hurt," Jaydis said. "I mean, in the movies they're all 'Oh crap! Zombie bite!'" He flailed his arms around. "'We gotta friggin'...!'" He stopped himself, not wanting to scare the kid. He looked at Ellie, thinking how it would suck extra if a kid had been bitten. He couldn't bring himself to do away with a kid. He wasn't quite that heartless, yet. "I'm just glad to see normal people. We'll let you lead the way." He pointed at Satou. "I mean Bo-bellie lead the way, not you, chickenbutt."

Satou sighed again. "Whatever." This kid was kinda annoying but it was a good kind of annoying. Everyone else was so serious. Ellie grabbed Jaydis's hand and started pulling him to the security station, both of them laughing. Satou and Sam followed.

**7:23 PM**

**En-route to Mercuny City Mall**

The drive was hellish. Everywhere they looked, they only saw increasing numbers of the monstrosities. Grant was driving and plowing through any of them that were stupid enough to get in front of the car. They were nearing the mall but that bit of good news paled in comparison to the bad news. The car was running low on gas, might not have enough to make it all the way there. But even worse than that, Andrew seemed to have gone into total shock. He was pale and lied there without moving. He would be incapable of walking but Grant wouldn't leave him to die."

A loud moan sounded above all the others. Almost as if it was right next to him. Grant just focused on driving. He had to use the windshield wipers to clear the blood off so he could see. It was then that a terrible thought dawned on him. He tried to push it down but didn't succeed. _What if...everyone is dead? What if we're the only ones left? Or worse...what if these _things_ are everyone?_ All he could do was keep driving.

The road was a bit clearer now. Less monsters about. He could see a sign in the distance. "Mercuny City...Mall!" he read out loud. It was beautiful. Like nothing he had ever seen before. "Fuck yeah! Andy! Wake the fuck up! We're here!" he yelled joyfully. He turned to look at Andrew but it wasn't Andrew he saw. Grant's face was stricken with horror. Andrew let out that loud moan again. "Holy fucking hell!" Grant cried. "Jesus Christ, no...Andy..."

Grant's eyes were flowing with tears. He didn't usually feel this way about death. Looking into that terrible face, everything became clear. He knew Andy's wife and kids. He used to go over to Andy's house from time to time to play poker and his wife would bring them beer while the kids played outside. Seeing that face, he knew they were dead too. Everyone Grant knew was dead. He looked his former friend in the eye. There was no soul, no joy, no sorrow. Nothing. He pointed his gun at his partner's head. No...he pointed his gun at the monster's head. Andy was long gone.

A shot rang out. It was done.

He pulled into the parking area and kicked the corpse of the man formally known as Andrew out of the car. He couldn't stand looking at it. Then he continued up to the entrance of the mall. He could see more of the creatures everywhere. In the rear view mirror, he saw that a flock had descended upon the body of his partner. He drove through as many zombies as he could, not just because they were in the way. But because he had no other way to deal with the emotions he was feeling.

He exited the car and saw the truck lodged in the entrance. "Fuck...nothing makes any fucking sense anymore," he muttered and squeezed around it. Once inside, he checked his watch. 7:34. It had taken him awhile but he finally made it.

He noticed what looked like a group of people walking in the distance away from him. He was stunned. He tried calling out to them but couldn't find his voice. Suddenly he was tired. Too tired. He fell to the floor in a heap.

Satou looked back at the sound and noticed someone lying on the ground. This person was covered in blood and what may have been brain matter. He simply passed it off as another casualty and kept walking.

**This section concludes at 7:35 PM, March 20****th****.**


	4. March 20: 7:40 PM to 9:00 PM

**7:40 PM**

**Security Office**

It seemed really crowded for just ten people. Everyone was huddled together, presumably for warmth and comfort. The ground was littered with weapons, ammo, first aid kits, water bottles, but hardly any food. What a pain. Without a word, Sam moved across the room and found a small nook with an uninhabited bedroll in a side room. He set down his backpack and laid out his weapons. He had left his baseball bat in his apartment but he still had his sword (though he was loath to use it for fear of damaging it), his gun, and his buck folding knife. It would be enough. He supposed he'd need to lay down some rules but for now, all he wants to do is sleep.

What exactly is going on? Being trapped in a mall while the world outside was infested with zombies? He laughed. Ridiculous. He thought about what might happen if someone snapped and went berserk. Or, worse, if one of them turned into a zombie and he had to shoot them. He held up an old family picture he brought with him. _Everything's changing so fast. What exactly is going on...? And what the hell was I thinking with that truck? _he thought and laughed again. Reality set in when his laughter died. This was going to be his new home for awhile. And he didn't dare make new friends, for fear of losing them instantaneously.

While Sam was having an inner monologue, Jaydis was prowling the security office. Satou had found a place to sit down with Ellie and began bandaging her wound. "Reid?" Jaydis called out, knowing it was pointless. He didn't see anyone with flamboyant red hair. He sighed. Everyone around him looked scared and dumbfounded and he supposed he should be too. He was mad more than anything though. This outbreak was interrupting his life and turning it completely upside down. Horrible traumatizing events were supposed to happen in other places, you never expect it to happen to you. Even if he and the others survive, nothing will be the same. The images of half-eaten corpses, unturned vehicles, and destroyed buildings will never leave him.

"Hey. You're gonna be a celebrity, you know," he said to a random person. "After we survive this, we'll be known as the people who survived a damn zombie outbreak." He didn't care about what they thought about his nonchalant comments. He leaned back against the wall and continued to speak aloud without being clear as to who he was addressing. "Kinda sucks, eh? Teaches us for living everyday thinking nothing like this could ever happen. Makes a big slap in the face now that it's happening. I mean, even if we do survive- BAM, whole new life. Gotta start over again. Pain in the ass. But something to look forward to I guess." He tilted his head to look at Sam. "Rest up and take it easy, bud. You look like a guy who can get things done. You'll be ok." With that, he decided to settle into a spot next to Satou. "Hey, chickenbutt. Princess here your sister?" This thing must be really tough of a kid. It's a wonder she survived so far.

Satou jumped when he heard Jaydis's voice so close to him and immediately felt guilty. He was almost positive that Ellie had been bitten but couldn't bring himself to tell Jaydis about it. "No, I just met her when me and that other guy got here," he said. "But I just can't bare to see a lady in distress. 'Specially a cute little button like Ellie." He smiled and ruffled her hair and Ellie laughed. "Apparently she fell on her way here and got a nasty scrape. But I helped her take care of it, see?" He held up Ellie's arm for Jaydis to see. A murmur went through the group of people but they stopped when Satou's eyes turned cold and he touched the butt of his gun.

_I won't let them do this to her,_ he thought. It was then that he realized that he had come to love Ellie as a sister. It was the kind of kinship survivors of the same disaster come to feel for each other, latching onto each other to help cope. _There must be a way to save her. I _will _find it!_

Just then, the door opened with a bang and Kyle marched in. His once white shirt and blue jeans were now covered in blood. A woman screamed, thinking he was a zombie. Kyle ignored her and threw his backpack on the ground in the middle of the room. All kinds of food spilled out and everyone clamored to grab what they could. Satou snatched up a box of animal crackers for Ellie. After about forty-five seconds, Kyle took the bag again.

A man walked up to him and started yelling. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

Kyle pushed the man away. "We can't waste food. Take what you absolutely need to survive."

This angered the man even more. "Who died and made you king of the fucking universe?! I bet you have tons more and you're saving it all for yourself!" The survivors started to mumble an agreement.

Kyle's patience reached its end and he fired a shot from his pistol at the ceiling. Everyone promptly shut up. "There's a supermarket in the southern part of the mall that has plenty of food so feel free to go. Just be sure to bring weapons, the mall's crawling with those things."

After saying that, he spotted Satou and walked over to him. "So...?" he asked.

It took Satou a moment to realize what he was talking about. When he did, he averted his gaze. He liked Kyle, and Jaydis too. He didn't want to lie to them. But what choice did he have? "No one was injured except Ellie here," he said in a low voice. "She got banged up pretty good on her way here but I bandaged it up." He looked around the room with an icy gaze, daring anyone to speak up. No one did. He opened up the box of animal crackers and gave one to Ellie. She played with the elephant a bit before popping it into her mouth then rummaged through the box for more animals.

"Hey, kiddo. Wanna listen to some music?" Jaydis said and took off his headphones. "I got some good stuff here." He put the headphones on her without waiting for an answer and turned up the volume some. Loud enough to mute out the people in the room. She didn't need to hear people talking about here. "It'll be ok, man. Little princess here will be fine. You'll take good care of her. She's in good hands." He patted Satou on the shoulder. He really hoped she would be. Satou would be crushed if they had to do away with the kid.

"You know what we have to do," Kyle said to Jaydis. Jaydis didn't say anything, only looked at Ellie with eyes mixed with warmth and sadness. Kyle picked up on this right away. _Dammit, they're protecting the kid. Why does it have to be a kid?_ He paced the room, scratching his head. No one spoke but he could feel the survivors watching him. He aimed his gun at Ellie who was laughing and playing with the animal crackers with Satou, a fierce look on his face. _I have to...! But...! A kid... I can't shoot a kid...! DAMMIT! _He lowered his gun and flicked the safety on. _If I can find the ingredients, I can give her more time. Time enough until the military shows up. _He had apparently found a chainsaw during his search of the mall and now he tied to to his back with rope. When he was sure that was in order, he left the the room as quickly as he had arrived.

**8:13 PM**

**Mall Interior**

Sam, who had got up at the sound of the commotion, followed him out. "Hey, man. What the hell?" he asked when he had caught up.

"When people are panicked, they respond far better to fear than logic," he said while walking at a brisk pace. "Shooting a guy is a good way to grab their attention. Now, I don't know how long it has been since that girl was bitten but I'd say she has about ten hours or le-"

"Hello...? Is anyone here....?" Officer Grant had regained consciousness and wandered towards the security room when he heard the gunfire. Sam and Kyle aimed their guns at him. He was only able to take a few more steps before he collapsed again.

Kyle ran over and picked him up. "Hang in there." He looked at Sam. "Get this guy back to the others. I have to go look for the ingredients I need." He handed Grant over to Sam who slung Grant's arm over his shoulder and supported him. Without waiting for Sam to say anything, Kyle ran off deeper into the mall. He spotted a Starbucks and went inside.

After searching behind the counter for a bit, he found what he was looking for: coffee filters. He put the filters in his backpack and turned to leave when he heard a sound. Something had bumped into one of the tables. Kyle readied his chainsaw.

_ WOOF!_

_ A dog? Well at least it's not a zombie,_ Kyle thought. Nevertheless, he approached the large German shepard cautiously. It came to him, wagging its tail. Kyle decided it was safe so he patted its head. It nuzzled up against him and whined, then licked his fingers. "Sorry, boy. I can't play with you right now." He patted its head again and left the coffee shop and noticed the dog following him. "It's really dangerous out there. You sure you wanna come with me?" The dog barked and ran towards him. "Do what you want." He said and walked away with the dog at his side.

**8:17 PM**

**Security Office**

For awhile, no one spoke. They just sat there, quietly chewing on their food. Jaydis decided he wanted to get up to walk around a bit. He liked Satou and Ellie but being around everyone else irritated the hell out of him. He kissed him MP3 Player and said: "I'll be right back for you, my sweetums" and stood up. Parting is such sweet sorrow. Or however it goes. He looked out towards the direction Kyle and Sam had went to see Sam carrying a man towards the office. He grabbed a nearby blanket and jogged over to meet them.

"Whoa, it's ok, guy. You're safe now. You got him?" he asked Sam before draping the blanket over Grant's shoulders and taking his other arm to help carry him back.

"Yeah, got him," Sam replied. They carried him over to the room where Sam had been sleeping. It was nice and quiet there for him. Sam checked him over. Grant was in a daze and covered with blood and what Sam guessed could be brain matter. It didn't seem to be his own, though. "He's messed up pretty bad. He needs rest." Sam grabbed his extra set of clothes and put them on the bedroll next to Grant. "Not an exact fit but a fresh set of clothes will do you good. "There's some food in my bag too. Eat up." He turned to leave and motioned for Jaydis to do the same. Grant changed into the fresh clothes and laid on the bedroll. Someone in that room had reminded him of his former partner before he became a monster. Someone just had a similar feeling that Grant couldn't quite identify. Everything went black before he could figure it out. He had fallen asleep.

Sam glanced around the security room when he got back to the main room and spotted Satou and Ellie. Satou seemed quiet and distant and Ellie seemed to enjoy the MP3 player. He walked over to the monitors and observed. Oddly enough, there seemed to be more humans wandering around besides Kyle. At least, he hoped they were humans.

Jaydis was debating getting about getting to know all the people or not. Maybe the talking would be good for them. _Nah,_ he thought. _Then I'd have to remember more names. _Then he sat down and closed his eyes for a bit.

**8:23 PM**

**Mall Corridors**

"Hello...? Hello, is anyone here...? Gawd..." Reid stumbled a bit, falling on one knee. He ached something terrible all over. Those things kept coming at him and it seemed like he banged up against every car in the parking lot while trying to avoid them. He also ran into some broken glass, rusty exhaust pipes, and other various protruding objects that caused him to bleed in a few places. He whimpered and forced himself to stand up. He was a short, scrawny boy and physical fighting was out of the question. All he could do was run, duck, jump, and hope for the best. He cringed as he walked past a few dead bodies lying on the ground. What does that mean? Could there possibly be people here other than the cannibals?

"WHERE THE HELL IS EVERYBODY?!" he shouted. He gasped when he heard footsteps scurrying towards him. "Who's there?"

He let out a panicked shriek when a cannibal suddenly jumped out of the shadows at him. He desperately tried running away but kept tripping over his own feet. He whimpered with every step he took and could feel his heartbeat in his throat. He threw himself against a nearby pay phone, grabbed the receiver, and started pounding on the cannibal when it got within his reach. He squeezed his eyes shut and mercilessly beat it until it stopped moving. When he was sure it was dead, he slowly hung up the phone back on the hook and slid down the wall. He sat there and cried openly. He wasn't ashamed. He was terrified.

**8:26 PM**

**Security Office**

"What would you do if you were a zombie? I think I'd start a rock and roll band. You know, like Lord Raptor from Darkstalkers? That'd be pretty sweet. I mean, think about it. You could be eternally rich. You ain't dying anytime soon, so the money'll keep rolling in for like, ever. And you wouldn't even have to spend it on food since you're dead so you could buy, like, all the albums and crap you want."

Jaydis was babbling to a random person unfortunate enough to have been sitting beside him. He nodded matter of factly then patted their shoulder before using them as support to lift himself off the ground. "Think about," he said then joined Sam in watching the monitors. "Hey, chickenbu-" He fell silent and looked closer. Could it be? "Shoo, shoo," he said and motioned for Sam to move. He did so without comment.

"Reid?!" Jaydis jumped back. Every emotion imaginable was vying for control of his face. "It's...He's..." He had nothing compared to his usual laid back mannerism. He looked so...vulnerable. He looked at Sam then pointed to the monitor showing Reid then opened his mouth to say something. But nothing came out. He rushed over to grab his shovel before bolting out the door.

"H-Hey! You won't get far with a damn shovel!" Sam yelled. He took another good look at the monitor to see where exactly Reid was before running out after Jaydis.

Satou watched them leave and contemplated following them. He decided the two of them would be ok without him. In fact, he'd probably just slow them down. He ended up staying where he was seated with Ellie.

**8:29 PM**

**Mall Corridors**

Reid heard someone shouting but couldn't hear it clearly due to the fact that he was covering his ears with his hands. But if it was talking, maybe that meant it's human and not something that wants to eat him. He uncovered his ears and opened one eye to see a gun pointed in his face.

"Hey, you a shambler?" a man asked. Reid let out a small cry and wrapped his arms around his head. "Jesus, kid, answer next time," he said and lowered the gun. "Hmm, I thought Jaydis would have beaten me here." He heard the pitter-patter of sneakers running towards him. "Ah, that should be him now." He offered a hang to Reid. "Let's go, Shaky."

"S...Sorry," Reid said and grabbed Sam's hand. "Jaydis...? Did you say Jaydis...?" he asked when he was on his feet. He smiled to himself. Jaydis was here and was coming for him.

Jaydis was nearing them and he laughed when he saw a short shadow. It could only be Reid, he was an unmistakable shrimp. "Reid!" he shouted. He growled when he saw another shadow near him. "GET THE HELL AWAY FROM REID YOU FREAKIN' SON OF A BITCH!" he yelled and prepared to take its head off with the shovel. He realized it was Sam and stopped just in time.

"Whoa, helluva swing you got there," Sam said and jumped back a little. "Make sure you look who it is first, huh?"

Jaydis laughed and put Reid in a headlock after giving him a quick hug. "What the hell were you thinking, disappearing on me all day like that and worrying the hell out of me?"

"Stop it, Jaydis!" Reid said and struggled to free himself. "You're...hurting me!" Jaydis let him go.

"Sorry about that," Jaydis said to Sam. "I mean...I just saw another shadow...And...Eh...You know? Didn't think you'd running after me. Thanks for that though. The running, I mean. Sam, This is Reid. Reid, this is Sam. Both y'all, I'm Jaydis and I think we should head back to the security office before we're all in deep shit."

"Reid, huh? Odd name," Sam said. "Then again, so is Jaydis I guess. Ah, what the hell. We need to get mov-" He stopped when he spotted a couple shadows in the distance. "Damn, more of those friggin' things. You boys get a move-on. I'll bring up the rear." _How the hell are these things getting in?!_ he thought as he fired at the closest one. Its head exploded and it crumpled to the ground.

"Come on, Reid!" Jaydis said and grabbed his hand. They ran back towards the security office with Sam following behind them.

Sam was letting loose all of his bullets but they kept coming. _Click, click. _"Shit!" he hissed. "Jaydis! I'm out of bullets!"

"Reid keep going!" Jaydis said. "We're almost there! I'll catch up!" He ran back to help Sam while Reid ran forward. Jaydis took out a couple of zombies with his shovel. He stopped when he felt and hand fall on his shoulder. "Reid, I thought I told you to keep going!" He screamed when he looked behind him to see one of the infected. It was holding on too tight to let go. "Sam!" he shouted. Sam ran up and punched the zombie in the face. Its skull shattered the the fragments pierced its brain, killing it instantly.

"Let's go!" Sam shouted. They ran to catch up to Reid.

Reid burst into the security office, panting heavily. He dropped to his knees and sat there. A moment later, Jaydis and Sam came in and slammed the door shut.

"Holy shit! Those things are tough!" Sam said and went to his room. He needed to eat.

"Thanks, a million, chickenbutt!" Jaydis called after him. "You rock!"

Grant hadn't moved at all. Sam knelt to check his pulse to find that he was still alive. Good. He opened up a can of Chef Boyardee's shells 'n meatballs. The can lasted a whole minute before being completely devoured. Satisfied, he put a fresh clip in his pistol and sat against a wall. _Man, I think that was the most excitement I've had in years,_ he thought just before he dozed off.

After Jaydis caught his breath, he slapped Reid up the backside of his head and dragged him to sit down next to Satou and Ellie. "Thank God you're alive, you little brat. You had me so worried. Hey, Satou! Ellie! This is Reid!" Reid smiled politely and nodded to them. He was blushing slightly, obviously shy.

"So you're Reid, huh?" Satou asked. "Nice to meet ya. Jaydis he's been worried sick."

Reid sighed. "I know, I'm sorry."

"How's she doing?" Jaydis asked and nodded towards Ellie.

"Pretty good, it seems. Thanks for the whole thing with the MP3 player. I appreciate you looking out for her." Just then Ellie let out a big yawn. "You look worn out, missy." She nodded sleepily. He looked around until he spotted a blanket and pillow and made a makeshift bed. She was asleep almost as soon as she lied down. Satou smiled and stroked her hair.

He was lost in thought. There were too many things to worry about. _Maybe I should have gone with Kyle. Or, maybe it's my fault that he's gone. Have I been making the right choices up until this point? Logically, I should have shot Ellie when I took her into the bathroom. But...I can't....She's just a kid..._

It was then that he remembered something. His laptop. He fired it up and opened the word processor, figuring he'd work on his story to pass the time when a little message box popped up indicating there were wireless networks he could connect Claire to. He found one that didn't require a passkey to use. He motioned for Jaydis to scoot over to him.

"Dude, check it out," Satou said in a low voice. "This is my laptop, Claire. I usually use her to write stories but that's not what I wanted to tell you."

Jaydis smiled. "Claire, eh? _Claire?_ I was always more of an Ada fan myself." They both chuckled.

"Anyways, I found out I can connect to the Internet. I don't know how useful it'll be so I was wondering if you had anything. I don't want everyone to know and waste her battery trying to contact their families and my charger was left in my car when it was crushed. But I trust you, man. Do you think we can do anything with her?"

"I may run my mouth a lot but important stuff's safe with me," Jaydis said and tried to resist the urge to waste the battery looking up music on Youtube. "Wonder if we can send out an SOS. Bet you that chainsaw wielding guy that shot the ceiling would know what to do. Where is our rootin' tootin' gunslinger when you need him."

"Who knows?" _He went to go get a cure for Ellie I think. Thing is, I'm lying to you. She didn't fall, she was bitten. _He wanted to say it but couldn't.

"Can you check the news? See what the hell's going on or what's up with these things? I mean, at this point we don't even know if anyone else knows about us." He leaned over and grabbed his headphones and handed them to Satou so no one would be able to hear the computer. "Let's just start with getting a little bit of information to work with. I know your girl here's just itching to help us."

He was about to log on to the Internet when his computer received a strange file. He opened up to see what it was. At the top of the page was a pentagram. Satou scrolled down a bit and saw pictures of people being eaten by zombies. He felt a little queasy and hurried past them. The document went on to talk about some sort of plan involving foster children or something. Near the end was a letter apparently addressed to everyone on this network.

_Brothers! Sisters! We have lost our Father in the Willamette Incident! However! His death was not in vain! We, the successors of his legacy, can exact his revenge in his stead! Three of our brothers in Mercuny have advanced to the next stage. Let us go and join them!_

"Wh-what the hell is this?" Satou breathed but continued reading.

_The ones who desecrated our Father's land shall be punished! We will rise up and destroy them! Then we can build an empire for our Father's glorious return! Ehre sei dem Vater! _The letter was signed by someone simply called, "The First Son".

Satou saved the document for later and then brought up the Internet. The news showed aerial views of the city. Most buildings were on fire or destroyed and the streets themselves seemed to be alive with zombies. The view cut to a ground camera where military vehicles were trying to enter the city but were being repelled by the zombies. They jumped onto the cars and broke through the windows and killed the people inside. A reporter was talking.

"We're live from just outside Mercuny City. All attempts to quell these monsters so far have been fruitless. It is as of yet unconfirmed if there are any survivors within the city. The President gave a speech concerning the situation."

The scene switched to show The President at a press conference. "We have no idea if there are any survivors. My men have yet to enter the city by ground. We haven't been able to land helicopters either on account of most suitable buildings have been destroyed and it's too dangerous to live in the streets. I pray that there are people still alive and they are able to make it out of the city. However, it will have to be soon. My men cannot hold these things at bay forever. For the sake of the nation," Mercuny City will be bombed in 48 hours from now." The President walked away, ignoring the calls of reporters with questions and comments.

"Oh shit," Satou said. "Zombies my be the least of our problems."

**This section concludes at 9:00 PM on March 20****th****.**


	5. March 20: 9:00 PM to 10:21 PM

**9:00 PM**

**Mall Interior**

Kyle had finally gathered everything he needed. Well, almost everything. He was still missing ten infected wasps. _Let's see...Bugs like plants, right? So...maybe I'll check the garden area._

He opened the door when he reached the gardening area and felt a strong gust of wind coming from it. The air pressure inside the vivarium was different than that of the rest of the mall. His nostrils were filled with the smell of blood and decay as he wandered in.

The once green and vivid plants in the vivarium were now yellow and wilted. Thousands of wasps filled the area. Curiously enough, they didn't sting him. _Damn...I hate bugs..._ he thought as he looked around.

That was when he noticed that a man was standing right in the middle of the vivarium. He had gelled-up hair and well-worn glasses. He was tall and skinny and wore white flowing robes as if he was some kind of priest. He turned to face Kyle.

"Welcome, Brother!" he cried and held out his arms. "How do you like my pets?" Kyle slowly backed away, holding his chainsaw firmly. "Our Father had it wrong. We don't need to unleash zombies on others. If we turn the zombification process on ourselves, we can make ourselves stronger! Imagine an army of soldiers who aren't afraid of death! Of pain! Of losing friends or family! Soldiers who only want to kill, kill, kill!" He let out maniacal laughter. "Now...feel it with your skin... Feel... Reincarnation!" He took out a pistol from his robes and fired at Kyle. Kyle dove to the side and narrowly avoided the bullet. It hit the vivarium's wall instead. It was filled with some sort of liquid that attracted wasps to it. "How dare you?!" the man yelled. "Don't you want to be reborn?! Reborn as a perfect life-form? The world will be united under one goal: to feed!" He started shooting again and Kyle ducked behind a table. Some of the liquid got on his jacket. He tore it off and thew it away.

Eventually he ran out of ammo. As he fished for another clip from his robes, Kyle picked up a rock and threw it at the magazine. It burst open and the liquid sprayed all over the man. He started screaming and trying to wipe it off his robes but it was too late. All of the wasps swarmed him and proceeded to sting him repeatedly. Even when he was already dead, the wasps continued to sting him.

Kyle walked up to the man's corpse. The wasps were too busy with the man to worry about Kyle. He picked up the man's pistol and left over magazines. He had quite a few. He then picked up a jar from a counter and captured some wasps. He looked and counted around sixteen in the jar. More than enough but he didn't dare opening the jar to let the others go. He stuff it into his backpack with the rest of the ingredients and headed back to the security office.

**9:00 PM**

**Security Office**

"You must have been pretty scared, chickenbutt.." Jaydis said quietly to Reid when he felt him touch his shoulder. Jaydis looked over at him when he heard a small snore. Reid had fallen asleep on Jaydis's shoulder. He looked exhausted. Jaydis wiped a bit of blood that was smeared on Reid's cheek and noticed Satou shutting down his laptop.

"Jaydis," Satou began, clearly shaken. "They're going to bomb the city in 48 hours regardless of if there are survivors or not."

"BOMB?!" Jaydis cried and immediately followed it up with "Did you seriously just drop the F-bomb on me? You're such a buttwipe." He lowered his voice. "Are you serious? 48 hours? What are you doing? We're not sitting here waiting for help, we're sitting here waiting to get blown to hell." He let out a long sigh.

"Yeah, but that's not all. There's some weirdo cult or something calling themselves brothers who want revenge for something. I have no clue what though."

"Great. As if the bombs weren't enough. They sound like they may be a part of all this though." He sighed again. "Well, do we share this with anyone? Or keep it to ourselves for now?"

"Don't tell anyone just yet," Satou said to Jaydis in a low voice. "It's bad enough that everyone's already on edge. If they hear the news, they'll probably try to run away and ended up getting themselves killed. Let's just keep this between us for now. We'll talk to..." he trailed off. He realized he didn't even know the name of the man he came in with. "Uh...I'll just call him Leader," Satou said and laughed a bit. "Y'know, the guy with the chainsaw and the commanding presence." He hoped Kyle would be able to find the cure. He looked down at Ellie. _I'm sure you've been through a lot, kiddo. We'll get you out of here, ok? I promise._

Jaydis nodded. He couldn't help but find it amusing that they were depending on a chainsaw-wielding, blood-drenched man with anger management issues. But he sure seemed to know his stuff. "Yeah, I agree with you there. I can only imagine the reactions we'd get if the information spilled out. Thus commences the wait for our chainsaw-wielding Leader." He wasn't as concerned about people running out and getting killed as he was about them against each other and causing unnecessary drama. Kind of made him feel heartless. He only cared about the people he knew, everyone else...Eh. "Give me a quick slap upside the head when he gets here, will ya? If his boisterous entrance doesn't wake me up first, that is. This whole zombie and bomb nonsense is making my eyes heavy. He yawned and stretched out his legs before closing his eyes. He needed at least a couple hours of shut eye.

Satou realized he was extremely tired too. Killing zombies and protecting little girls really wears a guy out. He couldn't go to sleep yet though. He had to keep watch. He didn't trust the others and it was clear they didn't trust him. Jaydis, Reid, Sam, and Kyle were possible allies but three of them were asleep and the other was out doing God knows what.

_Can't sleep...have to...have to keep...watch...._ He fell into a deep sleep.

**9:38 PM **

**Security Office**

Satou woke with a start. He was breathing heavily. He had that same dream again. About being left for dead after tripping and falling with zombies right behind him. Only this time, it seemed like it could really happen. He looked at Jaydis and Reid sleeping next to him and smiled. They were good guys. He doubted they'd leave him to die. He turned his gaze over to Ellie but only saw the blanket and pillow where she had been laying before. It took him a moment to register that she wasn't there and began to panic. He started to get up but found his wrists were tied behind him.

"Hey!" he shouted. "What the hell's going on?! Where's El-" He was gagged from behind so as not wake the people who were sleeping. The survivors looked at him with pity. Satou suddenly felt pure and utter hatred fro them. _Bastards! They waited until there was no one to help me! They only think for themselves. They'd kill a child to guarantee their own safety?!_ He was hit over the head and all went black. 

**9:43 PM**

**Security Office**

Grant heard a sound. Something like a thump across the head. This was a sound he knew well. It sounded like it came from far away. He wasn't entirely awake yet but he decided to get up and investigate the source. He got up and walked out into the main room where the refugees were. One thing was clearly out of place. One man was tied up and gagged. He was also out cold.

"Why the fuck is that guy tied up?" Grant asked one of the survivors who was looking at him. The person told him about the little girl. About tying the man up, and so on and so forth. Grant semi-understood but he was still tired. However, he knew that waking the man would only be a pain. Throughout seven years of service, you get pretty sick of people freaking out and looking to you for help. He noticed a computer next to the man and a younger man next to that. He looked at the younger man's legs. This was one of the people who had saved him. "Hey... Hey, wake the fuck up..." he said to the younger man.

Jaydis didn't hear but Satou did. Barely. He slowly opened his eyes. Everything was blurry and his head hurt like a mad bastard. He tried to speak but something was preventing him. That's when everything hit him. He tried to get up but his wrists were bound to a cabinet or something, he didn't really know. He did know that Ellie was missing though. He looked up at the man who had stirred him. He was muscular and looked kind of mean. Satou recognized him as the man Kyle and Sam found earlier. He tried to speak again but all that came out was _Whrf Elree._ He looked up to the man with pleading eyes.

Grant looked down at him sternly. Not that he was trying to intimidate the man but rather to try and side with the rest of the people there.

_Fucking shit..._ he thought to himself. Now, there were two ways out of this. Either let the man go and cause a huge stir, or just walk away and leave the man to fend for himself and let the girl die too. He thought about the consequences of both. Neither the little girl nor the man tied up meant anything to him. But... what if there had been a way to save Andrew. Would Grant have sacrificed for him? This was something he didn't want to think about too deeply. _Shit, _Grant thought. _I just wanted to wake him up for some answers._

Grant walked away, realizing what this may look like. He wasn't leaving though. Returning to his bedroll, he retrieved his pump-action shotgun. He had manged to hang onto it even after all he had been through. He then walked back to the man. He had begun untying his wrists, which were indeed bound to a cabinet along with his legs, when a person grabbed his shoulder. He shrugged the hand off his shoulder and continued to untie the girl's guardian.

The rational part of his brain was telling him not to do this. But for some reason, he didn't listen. It was unlike him. The wrists were done. Now he moved onto the legs. The legs were done up in a complicated four-way lashing in which two of the layers of rope were-

Grant was cut off during these thoughts by a baseball bat flying into his right arm. He let out a loud cry. It was more due to surprise than pain. It was hardly painful enough to faze him. He looked behind him and saw the scrawny survivor who had tried to coerce him before. He slowly stood up. This shocked the attacker, who thought he had dealt a devastating blow of some sort. Grant wrapped his hand around the bat and threw it out of the man's arm. It broke a window, or mirror, but he didn't care to look. He then pushed the man to the ground using hardly any force.

He raised his shotgun in the air and proclaimed: "Anyone else think they're big enough to take him? Wanna tie me the fuck up? Be my guest." This noise cause Reid to stare but Grant paid him no heed. He knelt down to Satou again and continued to untie him. After a moment, the man was free. "Go save that little bitch you've been protecting," Grant said. He wished he hadn't said that but physical labor always makes him angry due to his generally lazy attitude. He, like many of the police vets he worked with, was not by any means considered a good person. "I'll cover you in case those things pop up."

While that was going on, Reid was trying to wake Jaydis. "Jaydis. Jaydis wake up," he said and hit him lightly on the shoulder. He was such a heavy sleeper. He could probably have slept through WWII and not have heard a thing. Reid didn't understand what was going on exactly but it was obvious something wasn't right. Satou was being untied by someone while some random person hit him with a bat. He knew Jaydis would want to see this. He could tell that Jaydis trusted Satou and thought well of him just by the fact that he called him chickenbutt. "Get up, you lazy son of a gun!" he cried and shoved Jaydis.

Jaydis woke up just in time to see Satou being completely untied. _What? What's going on?_ He saw the man he helped Sam bring to the security office. The man had told Satou to go save that little...? He hadn't heard the rest. He shifted his head around, looking from side to side. _Wait... Where did Ellie go?_

"What the hell's going on?" he said and stood up, accidentally knocking Reid over in the process, and rushed over to Satou. "What happened to you?" He offered Satou a hand and pulled him to his feet. "Dude, are you ok? Are you hurt? Wh-Where's Ellie? I'm sorry...Man...I-I'm sorry...." He felt terrible. How the hell did he sleep through that? He felt bad for not waking up and doing something. He was awake now though, and he had to do what he could. "Let me help... Let me help find Ellie." He looked at Grant. "What happened here?"

Grant sighed. "Here's the deal. That sweet little girl who was sitting here in this room had the harbinger of death in her. You know, she was...about to go fucking insane like the rest of those creatures outside. So, these fucking _batshit insane people_ decided it would be a good idea to drag her off somewhere. Bottom line, I untied this... guy and right now we're gonna find that little bitch that has caused so much trouble."

He had called her "little bitch" again. He wasn't quite sure why. Maybe it was the fact that his arm hurt like hell and he, in turn, decided she was the root of the pain and had caused all this fuss in the first place. Really, he didn't care. He just wanted this load of crap to end.

It was then that Sam decided to stumble into the room. "Holy shit," he said sleepily. "Can't a guy get any-" he shut up when he saw what was in the room. A survivor laying on the ground terrified. Grant with a shotgun. Everyone else looking horrified or shocked. "What the hell is going on here?!" he shouted.

That was the trigger. That was when everything went to hell. Everything that had happened was too much for Satou. Zombies, an insane cult, the military, meeting new friend and foes alike. And of course, the loss of Ellie. He realized he still had his gun on him and aimed it at one of the survivors. Pure fear rendered the man paralyzed.

"YOU THINK IT'S FUNNY WHEN YOU TAKE AWAY SOMEONE IMPORTANT FROM ME?!" Satou screamed. "YOU THINK IT'S A JOKE?! I'LL SHOW YOU A JOKE!!" He pulled the trigger and the man's head exploded, showering the room with blood and brain matter. Everyone began screaming and trying to get away from him. Their screams only fueled his rage. He let out maniacal laughter while tears screamed down his face. "AHAHAHAHAHA!! HOW DID YOU LIKE THAT?! ONE LESS PERSON TO EAT OUR FOOD, HUH?!" He ran up to a woman and leaned down close to her face and grinned. "THAT'S WHAT YOU WERE THINKING RIGHT?! ONE LESS PERSON TO GET US INTO EVEN MORE TROUBLE?!" She broke down in tears.

Satou turned away and his voice grew icy. "You're lucky I need these bullets," he said calmly. "Because I'm going to find Ellie. And if any of you try to stop me, I'll blow you fucking brains out." He walked out of the security office before anyone could say anything.

**10:18 PM **

**???**

A strange man was hunched over Ellie, examining her closely. She was tied to a table. Not too far behind the man, one of the survivors from the security office was watching and trembling a little.

"Well, what do we have here?" the strange man asked. He was wearing a white lab coat and he had magnifying glasses over his eyes. "A girl...in the, 2nd stage. A girl like this...yes, yes indeed." He giggled to himself.

The man behind him spoke up. "W-We can go free now, right? Th-That was all y-you wanted and we can go now, r-right?"

The strange man turned around and eyed him. "Oh yes. Yes, of course. I have no further use for you. Begone." He picked up a gun from the desk near him and shot the man. Wasp-like insects surrounded him and stung him repeatedly. The strange man turned around and began to observe Ellie again. She was barely conscious but spoke one word that could be heard by anyone in the room.

"Satou..."

**This section concludes at 10:21 PM, March 20****th****.**


	6. March 20: 10:21 PM to 11:34 PM

**10:21 PM**

**Security Room**

Jaydis had watched in horror as Satou snapped. He was speechless, he knew it wouldn't go well with Satou if something happened to Ellie, but this? This was more than he could have ever imagined. Satou shot someone. Shot someone before getting in another person's face while raving like a mad man and leaving. Silence fell over the room after he was gone. Everyone was probably too scared to move. Jaydis shook his head, staring out the doorway. "Of all the asshole moves a person could make..." he said. He looked at the survivors with disgust. "And I'm not talking about Satou. Assholes."

He looked at Sam and smiled an obviously fake, toothy smile. "You picked a bad time to wake up, didn't you? I'm sure if you look around the room, you'll notice someone other than Satou missing." He nodded his head towards Ellie's empty blankets. "I don't know what you're doing, and it's not that I don't enjoy your company, but I can't leave Satou out there alone. You're staying here, Reid, 'cause you're a friggin' wuss." Reid recoiled at those words. "So." Jaydis picked up the gun he had taken from Randolph's tavern and looked around the room at everyone. "See ya."

He ran to catch up to Satou but slowed down a bit when he approached him. It wasn't that he was scared. Well, he was a little. But it was more like he didn't know how to approach him. Did Satou still trust him? He didn't think Jaydis had any part in this...did he? He should have thought of these things beforehand. There was still a bit of distance between the two men. "Hey...Satou..." he said and walked a bit closer. "It's not safe out here alone...I want to help you..."

Satou was surprised and more than a little touched that Jaydis had followed him. He knew Jaydis was one of the few people he could trust be he didn't think he would still like him after that...episode. He giggled a little, then it grew into gales of laughter. Not that he thought that any of this was funny. And last time he checked, he wasn't entirely insane. But still, the laughter kept coming. He threw his head back and laughed some more until it eventually died down. He felt a lot better after. He had written stories about people relieving stress by laughing but it frightened him to actually do it. He turned to Jaydis with tears streaming down his cheeks.

"Jaydis..." he said and walked over to him. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for that to happened, I just...I'm so sorry." He broke down crying and hugged Jaydis. Everything was so overwhelming and he didn't know what to do. He was glad he still had one person on his side, though. He vowed to get Jaydis out of the city after finding Ellie. It was the least he could do.

"Hey, it's gonna be ok," Jaydis said. He was beyond relieved that he got a positive response from Satou. Not positive in the sense of a positive emotion but positive in the sense that he was still sane and not out to kill Jaydis. He remembered all too clearly the fear and stress he felt when he first realized Reid was out there alone with all the cannibals. But he couldn't help but be surprised with every emotion Satou was showing. He hugged Satou and patted him on the back. "Don't worry about it, man. They did both you and Ellie wrong, they asked for it. You'll get her back, though. We're gonna find her, and Leader's gonna have a cure ready for her, and everything'll be ok. You'll see."

He shifted his eyes around and suddenly felt like a ton of bricks hit him in the gut when he heard footsteps. They sounded distant and he wasn't sure which direction they were coming from, but the scurrying sounds were a constant reminder that yeah..._they're_ out there.

Satou wanted to kick himself right then. He had figured he'd find Ellie, then get the hell out of Dodge. Or, however that quote went. But he had kinda sorta TOTALLY forgotten that there were zombies everywhere. He had only used two bullets since Kyle had given him the gun so that meant 28 rounds total.

"Well then, Jaydis," Satou said, having regained his composure. "Shall we?"

"That's more like it," Jaydis responded. He and Satou walked back to back down the corridors. _Where would someone have taken her?_ he thought. _She must be safe for at least a little while. I mean, if they wanted to kill her, they probably would have done it right then and there in the room. Not kidnap her. What do they want with her anyways?_

The footsteps sounded closer now. He patted Satou's shoulder to signal for him to stop. He held his gun, finger ready to pull the trigger at the first sign of a flesh-eater. The face that came into sight was not one of them however. It was Sam. "DUDE. YOU HAVE GOT TO STOP DOING THAT," Jaydis said and lowered his weapon. "It is good to see you, though."

Sam chuckled. "You too, Jaydis," he replied. He tried to avoid the whole "Where's Ellie?" question but it was hard. After a moment, he thought of something to say that didn't involve her name. "So, uh, where were you two headed anyway?" He looked at both of them. "It'll probably beat sticking around in the security office so count me in." He nodded at Jaydis then, after a moment's hesitation, patted Satou on the shoulder. Satou looked up, surprised. "We'll get her back," he said in a low growl. Sam was the type who hated to see even a complete stranger suffer, and Satou was more than just a stranger by now.

More footsteps were heard and Grant emerged from the darkness. He was so full of anger right now he couldn't take it. The tear-ridden face of the _murderer_ didn't change a thing. "You son of a bitch!" Grant said and punched Satou across the face. He fell down hard and Jaydis and Sam started to approach Grant but Satou held up his hand and told them to wait. "I'm going to lay this out for you right now," Grant continued. "The _second _this nightmare is over, you're going to rot in prison for the rest of your natural-born life! I wonder if you even knew that person, huh? The guy you shot. Well he's dead now and I think you'll be very happy to know that his children are crying in that room. Here's the funniest part, though. I'll bet that little fucker you've been chasing is already dead. So now tell me. How exactly did you expect this to end?"

Grant's rage was still rising. _He_ had set this guy free. That meant that this...this..._psychopath_ was his responsibility. He retrieved his gun from its holster and pointed it directly at the psychopath's head. "I'm not letting you out of my sight." He then walked three steps backwards. "Just keep moving, I'll be right behind you." He said this with disdain.

"You know who's in the wrong here, right?" Sam asked. "Police or not, you shouldn't stick your nose where it'll get hurt!" With no pause, Sam lunged at Grant. He knocked Grant's gun from his hand. It went flying to the left, hit a wall, and discharged once. The bullet ricocheted off a wall and flew right in front of Sam's face but he didn't even flinch. His martial arts training had taken over. He grabbed Grant's arms and twisted them behind his back. "Now listen and listen good. Those people tried to condemn an innocent child to death. As a police officer, you should know that _they're _the real murderers." Realizing how strong Grant was, he tightened his grip. That's when he caught sight of Grant's badge. "Police, huh? You took an oath to protect the weak and the innocent. How are you doing this? You're attacking what is probably the one thing that little girl has left in this world. _And_ her one chance of survival. Instead, you're protecting people who would even kill _you_ without a second-"

"Enough, Sam!" Satou yelled. He was standing on his feet again and he was looking at the ground. "Please, Sam...That's enough."

**10:51 PM**

**???**

Two men were watching the argument on a monitor. The entire room was dark except the glow from the bank of monitors on the wall. Most of the cameras showed zombies stumbling through the mall but Satou, Jaydis, Sam, and Grant could be seen. The survivors in the security room and Kyle wandering through the mall were also displayed. One of the men whispered to the other.

"No, they won't be a hindrance," the other man replied. "It's a shame that we lost one of our brothers, but we can't stop now." He turned and looked at Ellie who was sitting in a chair behind them. Large wasps were floating lazily through the air around her. "Thank you for you...cooperation," he said to her.

"You're going to let Satou, Mr. Jaydis, and the others go, right?" she asked.

He smiled at her. "But of course. I am nothing if not a...man of my word. This won't hurt but for a second." He motioned to the other man who came to her with a syringe. The man cackled laughter and injected the contents of the syringe into her arm.

**10:52 PM**

**Corridors**

Sam let go of Grant and Grant pushed him away. "There's something about you I just don't like," Grant said to Satou and stretched his arms out. "Maybe it's the fact that you have nothing to gain from this stupid...adventure you're going on. Or maybe it's that you haven't seen half the shit I've been through. Let me tell you something that you learn from seven years in the force. You learn what a psychopath is. Not just someone who rapes and kills women, or someone who slashes up their own _children._ Someone who shows people who they truly are when times are rough. Ruthless, uncontrollable bastards. I don't care if the people in that room are servants from Hell. But crazy boy here has shown me who _he _truly is. I just came along to prevent the inevitable."

He walked closer to Sam and spoke again more quietly. "Once that lunatic snaps, he won't care who he kills as long as he feels better afterward. It'll take more than fancy karate to prevent that. He took a few steps back. He was still angry and slightly humiliated at the events that preceded this incident. But he managed to calm himself and looked at everyone gathered here. "What are your names?"

"You're right," Satou said before anyone could answer. "I don't know what you've been through. But that doesn't make you special! And last time I checked, law doesn't mean jack shit right now, does it?" Tears had begun to spill from his eyes again. "I know you think I'm a psychopath and I don't care! I lost control of my actions for a bit back there and I do regret it. I took a human life! And that's a cross I will bear for the rest of my existence. No matter what I say or do, that man will never have never have his life back. I am fully aware of the implications of my actions. There is something I know I can do to help atone, though. I may never be forgiven entirely but that doesn't mean I can't do anything to try to make up for it. My name is Satou Asahira...and I swear to get as many people out of here as I can! Even if it costs me at my own life!"

Jaydis stepped in front of Satou. "Name's Jaydis," he said to Grant. "_You_ can call me Jay. And you can go ahead and stalk us with that gun all you want, but I would oh so appreciate it if you get the hell off of Satou's back. Maybe if you developed a little more human emotion you could understand him and his actions. Not that you care I'm sure. He's a good person. You claim you've seen who he truly is through the eyes of a pessimistic, pissed off, hollowed-out officer. I believe I've seen who he truly is too. What you're calling a psychopath is really just a concerned and protective guardian looking out and caring for what's important to him." He was happy to hear more footsteps coming. He didn't care if it was a human or zombie, he just liked having being able to get the last word in.

Sam unsheathed his sword and swung it once. It sang nicely as it sliced the air. _Still got it, Sam,_ he thought. "My name is Sam and we can save my part of the emotional speech for later."

"My, my, how touching," Kyle said as he emerged from the shadows. He sighed. "Sorry to interrupt, but judging by the circumstances I'd say we have some more important things to do, huh?"

Everyone lowered their weapons. "I didn't say psychopaths don't regret there actions," Grant said. "The thing that separates you from me is that I can handle pain without overreacting. And for the love of Christ, I took a baseball bat to the arm to get you out of there. So why don't you stop bitching about your feelings and go save that little shit that caused all of this!" He had calmed down a bit but he was still pissed about all this drama.

"Officer..." Satou began. "Thank you. I'm sorry. For all of this really. I suppose if I was more like you, I would have shot Ellie to begin with and none of this would have happened. But there's nothing I can do about it now." He turned to Kyle. "There's something I have to tell you. Clair, er... my laptop, was able to connect to the Internet and I got this weird file. Something about Brothers and their Father's legacy or whatever. I'll show it to you later, but I heard something else! The President is going to bomb Mercuny City in less than 48 hours regardless of if there are any survivors or not! Please! Help me find Ellie and then let's get out of here." He couldn't shake this sense of foreboding that things were about to get even worse than they already were.

"We don't mean to put any pressure on you," Jaydis said. "But you really do have a bunch of people here counting on your mad skills, Leader."

_Leader?_ Kyle thought with a sigh. _I never imagined myself the Leader type...But oh well. _"I see...Well, while collecting ingredients for Ellie's cure I ran into one of these...'Brothers'."

"Sounds like a basic cult to me," Grant said. "I've taken care of these shit-for-brains before. They always thing the same old crap. Nothing but a bunch of lonely bastards who refuse to believe in reason."

"Yes, that's correct," Kyle said. "I do believe they're a cultist group. We don't have any idea how many members there are but we know that there's at least one other man pulling the strings. If there's a Second Brother, there has to be a First. It seems they're responsible for the outbreak. Something about creating an army then taking revenge. They also have strange fluid that draws in the wasps who cause the infection. Meaning, they could infect any of us whenever they wanted to."

He paused and began to pace in circles. "Then there's the matter about the bomb. Honestly, I'm not really surprised. Let me guess: 'Wipe out the plague with the city to protect our nation', right?"

"Something like that," Satou said. "I was able to watch the President's speech regarding the matter."

"There's not really much we can do about that now, though. Supposing these Brothers have Ellie, they're probably still close by. A surprisingly small number of zombies have shown up in the mall up to this point but the outside is positively crawling with them. They're literally lined up shoulder to shoulder out there. We're quite possibly the only humans left in Mercuny City." He looked at his watch. "We have about eight hours to find Ellie before she turns."

"YOU'RE GOING TO PAY! MURDERER!" a voice echoed through the halls.

"Dammit," Kyle breathed. "Not another one of them."

A man jumped from the second floor wearing a white robe. Time seemed to slow down. He fired a pistol as he fell. Jaydis pushed Satou down on the ground. Grant and Sam drew their guns and returned fire. Kyle moved to the right to dodge the bullets. The man landed on the ground floor and grabbed Jaydis.

"Stop, or I'll shoot!" the man said and held the pistol to Jaydis's head.

"So...You're alive..." Kyle said. Grant and Sam still had their guns aimed at him. Moans could be heard throughout the halls. More of _them_ were coming. Everyone looked around except for Kyle and the Brother who looked only at each other.

"But of course. You forgot my promise? I promised I was was going to come back for you. Didn't I, Soldier?"

Kyle closed his eyes. "I'm no longer a soldier. I quit. After-"

"Don't give me that bullshit! Do you think that just because you're not a soldier, I'll forget about everything you did! When we heard one of our Brothers was killed, we thought it was just some panicked survivor. But it was you...wasn't it? You just won't stop until you kill every last man, woman, and child from Santa Cabeza! WILL YOU?!" Kyle didn't say anything. "You...You and your squad...I still remember that day...I remember it like it just happened! You said you were going to help us! But as soon as we turned around, you shot us in the back!"

"I...was following orders...I had no choi-"

"SHUT UP! That little brat made us promise we wouldn't hurt any of you...But it doesn't matter...Our work with her is almost done anyways! You...YOU'RE ALL GOING TO DIE IN HERE!" He raised his pistol and aimed directly at Kyle's forehead.

**This section concludes at 11:34 PM, March 20****th****.**


	7. March 20: 11:34 PM to March 21: 12:18 AM

**11:34 PM**

**Corridors**

_BONK!_

The man's pistol was hit by...a tennis ball? The impact threw the gun out of his hand. He turned slowly around to face his new attacker. It was a man with blonde hair who was...fully decked out in a Mega Man X cosplay costume. He made a v with his fingers. "Mega Man X to the rescue!" he shouted.

The Brother turned back to Kyle's group and saw Kyle aiming the special pistol he found earlier at him. "So it's like I said...You won't stop unti-" Kyle squeezed the trigger.

"No, don't!" Satou cried but it was too late. The bullet went straight into the Brother's mouth. Wasps flew in from the vents and followed the bullet inside his mouth. He was stung incessantly, both inside and out.

Jaydis threw the corpse off of him in time to see another zombie lunge at him. He screamed when it grabbed him. Kyle grabbed its head and tore it right off his shoulders. "Holy shit!" Jaydis yelled. "I owe you big time, Leader!"

"It's Kyle," he responded. "Not Leader, and we have to go. Now!" He switched to his Predator and fired at the approaching undead while he walked quickly down the corridors. The others followed him, taking down any zombies that got too close.

_Dammit, _Satou thought and shot a zombie in the head. _I had some things I wanted to ask that guy._ There was nothing he could do now though. At least Jaydis was safe. He looked around as he walked. _No sign of Mega Man...whoever the hell that whackjob was._

Grant was still angry, but this time it was about something else. He caught up to Kyle and jerked him around to face him. "Listen up, you little prick. This has gone fucking far enough. I want to know just WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU HIDING FROM US! I'm TIRED of playing the IDIOT in this game. Who are you? Why are you HERE? HOW ABOUT YOU JUST SIT DOWN FOR ONE MOTHERFUCKING SECOND AND EXPLAIN EVERYTHING!" He let go of Kyle and stepped back a bit to give him a chance to speak.

"He kinda has a point, Kyle," Satou said. "We know next to nothing about this whole thing, but you seem to be involved somehow. I'd rather not waste time but any information you may know could be vital. So would you mind telling us what's going on?"

Jaydis decided to put his two cents in as well. "Well, in a less in-your-face-way than our police friend here... 'fraid I have to agree with these two. Regardless of who or what you were in the past, we're all here now in the same damn boat." He crossed his arms impatiently.

Kyle sighed heavily. "Very well then. But let's keep moving, we're still on the clock." They started walking again but Kyle kept silent for a few seconds. "I suppose...you heard the news from Frank West, correct? About the first outbreak....and about how it's tied to Santa Cabeza..."

**3 years ago – June 28****th**** 3:00 AM**

**Transport trunk en route to Santa Cabeza**

Several soldiers sat inside the truck. They wore uniforms with "ZES" stamped on the left arm. Kyle was sitting in a corner with his helmet laying by his side.

One of the other soldiers, a man in his mid-thirties by the looks of it, took of his helmet and spoke to Kyle. "So, you're name's Kyle, right kid?" Kyle simply nodded in agreement. "Did you see the report? Some virus broke out around Santa Cabeza and the government said that we're supposed to wipe everything out, no questions asked. Weird, huh?"

Before Kyle could answer, a man stood up and looked at them both angrily. "That's right, you're not supposed to talk about it. Put your helmet on and keep quiet. We're almost there."

"Sir, yes sir," the other soldier said and both he and Kyle did as they were told.

All the soldiers loaded their guns. The one that had talked to Kyle earlier had his own pistol that wasn't standard issue. It was a customized Ares Predator IV. Kyle couldn't help but look at it. It had a beautiful rose design on the handle. The soldier noticed Kyle looking at it. "Heeey! If you keep looking, I'm gonna have to charge you for it!" He laughed and Kyle looked away. "Don't worry, kid. Nice gun though, isn't it? It was a present from my father. They gave it to him after serving many years in the army. Then, he gave it to me when I entered the army myself. It's like a family heirloom, y'know?" Kyle nodded. "You don't talk much, do you kid?"

Kyle sighed. "Not unless it's necessary."

The soldier shook his head. "Ok...I guess. Well, don't forget you're still a rookie. Give me a shout if you need help, huh?" He laughed again.

"Whatever," Kyle answered. But underneath his helmet, he was smiling.

The truck slowed to a stop and the man who yelled at them earlier stood up again. He was their commanding officer, Brock. "All right. Show time!" All the soldiers stood up in unison and the back of the truck was opened. "Go go go!"

The squad moved through the streets of Santa Cabeza. It was once a prosperous little town but now it was littered with bodies and pools of blood. Brock slapped Jenkins on the back. "Jenkins! You and the kid go south. Remember, shoot anyone who's not one of us!" Kyle and Jenkins nodded and ran down the streets.

"So, kiddo, looks like destiny wants us to be friends," Jenkins said. Kyle just sighed and kept running. "LOOK OUT!" A half-eaten man started running at Kyle. Kyle was shocked by how horribly mangled the thing was. How is it still moving? Jenkins took the shot. "Are you ok, kid? You owe me one!" He looked at the corpse. "What in the world...? Is that what they sent us to kill?" He moved closer and the corpse jumped at him. Kyle shot it in the head and it fell down.

"There," he said. "Now we're even." He shot it again then walked inside the large building in front of them. Jenkins laughed and followed.

"Ok, kid. You look upstairs and I'll look over here." Kyle nodded in agreement and left. It didn't take long to find a room where survivors were hiding. A man he would later come to know as the Second Brother stood up.

"The military? About time you showed up!"

Kyle took off his helmet. "How many of you are here?"

"Well, alive there are about twenty of us," he said in a sarcastic tone. "Ten men including me, four women, and about six half-dead kids."

Kyle sighed heavily. "Ok, stay here for a sec. I'll come back to bring you to the extraction point." The man nodded. Kyle left to go look for Jenkins. He heard gunshots on his way down the stairs and broke into a run. He saw Jenkins lying in a corner, bleeding, with about four or five corpses around him. Kyle ran to help him. "Hang on, I'll grab a med-kit and-"

Jenkins grabbed him by the collar. "No! The infection spreads through bites. I'm...I"m already going to become one of them!"

Kyle shook his head. "What the hell are you talking about?"

It took Jenkins great effort to speak. "This...woman...she was bitten by those thing...I offered her help. She was hurt but....she seemed fine. Overall, y'know? While I was walking back outside, she turned...And them more started appearing and..." Jenkins took off his helmet and started coughing blood. "Here, take this." He took out his pistol. "I want you to have it."

"Stop with the drama bullshit! Come on! We have to get you out of here!" Kyle moved to pick Jenkins up but Jenkins pushed him back.

"I don't...I don't want to turn into one of them." He raised his pistol to his temple.

"NOOOOOO!"

_ BANG_

It was too late. "Dammit!" Kyle swore. He picked up the pistol and went back to the survivors. When he entered the room, it was filled with corpses. Another soldier was standing in the middle. "What...What the hell did you do?" Kyle yelled.

The soldier turned around. "So...You must be Kyle. The one who said he was going to escort them to safety...?"

"What the hell do you think you're doing? They were civilians...There were children in there! They're-" The soldier punched Kyle in the face and he fell to the ground. The man knelt down next to Kyle and took off his helmet. A jagged scar ran up the side of his face. His one remaining eye was green.

"The orders were to shoot anyone who's not one of us. General Brock thought you and Jenkins were way too soft for the job and sent me over here to help. Looks like I arrived just in time." He stood up, then kicked Kyle in the gut. Kyle's vision started to go dark.

**11:49 PM**

**Corridors**

"After that, I left ZES." Kyle sighed. "Seems like my past is haunting me." He stopped and looked around. "We're here, let's start searching."

There was a bit of silence. The group was still digesting the story. Satou felt bad for making him bring up the past but there was nothing he could do about it. "So, uh...Do we split up or something? Or maybe it'd be better if we formed little teams? I don't know. Whatever you guys want."

"We could probably cover more space if we split up," Jaydis said. "But being in teams would be much safer. We don't have much time to waste either way." He gave Kyle a sarcastic salute. "You're an army brat who knows his stuff. You command and we will serve." It had sounded funny listening to that story. It was the kind of story you only hear about in movies or a story about a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy whose cousin did stuff like this. It made Jaydis uncomfortable. It broke his perfect little egocentric world and made him realize shit _does_ happen and it could happen to _anyone_. He didn't know whether to thank or dislike Kyle for that but that was a thought he couldn't bother himself with right now.

"I vote teams but it's your call, Kyle," Sam said. Grant didn't say anything.

"Why are you all relying on me...?" Kyle said under his breath and sighed. He didn't like having people rely on him, even more so after the thing at Santa Cabeza. He did kind of feel better after having told it to someone though. It seemed like a load was lifted from his body. He closed his hand on his chin. "Well, if we want to find Ellie fast we should really split up but, considering the circumstances...We'll all split into groups of two." He pointed to Jaydis and Satou. "You two." Then to Sam and Grant. "And you two."

"What about me?" a voice chimed in. Everyone looked to see Mega Man had shown up again.

"I guess...you can come with me? What's your name anyways?"

He saluted Kyle. "Call me Rootbeer, sir!"

Kyle put his hand on his face. _Rootbeer? This guy can't be real...Well, he saved my life. So I guess he can be trusted._ He sighed. "Ok..." He pointed to Satou again. "You and the other guy, go check the market." Then once again to Sam. "You and the cop go to the parking lot, just take those stairs next to the bathrooms. Me and..." He paused a moment, not believing what he was about to say. "Rootbeer...are going deeper into the eastern area. If the situation seems too dangerous don't try to fight, run and call the others. We'll come at full sprint." He turned and started walking down the east corridors. "Let's move, we don't have much time." Rootbeer ran to catch up to him.

"Where are we going, sir?" Rootbeer asked, a little too enthusiastically. He seemed like he was enjoying this.

"It's Kyle, please," Kyle said. _Why is it so hard for everyone to just call me by my name?_ "Do I really have to call you Rootbeer?"

"Are we looking for something, sir?" he asked, ignoring Kyle completely.

"We're looking for a little girl named Ellie," Kyle replied. "She could be in danger. Let's pick up the pace, Rootbeer." However, the zombies had other ideas. When they rounded the corner, they were faced with what seemed was hundreds of zombies. "Son of a bitch. Do you happen to have any weapon besides a tennis ball cannon?" Rootbeer nodded and produced a pistol from God-knows-where. _Well, whatever. Nothing about this guy makes sense._ "Alright," Kyle said and broke into a jog. "Let's go! Only shoot if they get close enough to make a grab!"

Rootbeer shot one in Kyle's way with surprising accuracy. "I got your back, sir! Let's charge through!"

"This guy gets weirder all the time," Kyle said under his breath. "Thanks!" he said louder. They continued running, taking down anything that got too close. Kyle noticed the lights on in an electronics store. "Let's check that store out." They went in quickly and closed the doors to keep the undead out.

"Do you think anyone is here, sir?" Rootbeer asked.

"That's what I'm trying to find out," Kyle said and barred the door shut with a broom. It wasn't much but it would have to do. "Hello?" he shouted. "Is anyone here?" No answer. "If there's anyone here, I'm here to help. There are survivors gathered in the security station and I can take you there."

"That won't be necessary," a man said, walking out from behind a video game rack. He was a bald, imposing man with black armor and a flowing red cape. He noticed Rootbeer. "Ah, X. You still live, I see. Welcome to my fortress." He spread out his arms. "This is a fitting place for our final battle, is it not?"

"Sigma!" Rootbeer growled. "What are you doing here?"

"Another cosplayer?" Kyle asked. "You gotta be shitting me."

"What do you think? After you destroyed my army, I've come to raise a new one. Right here in this mall."

"Army? What's this guy talking about?" Kyle asked Rootbeer.

"Me and Zero have taken this guy down a bunch of times but he keeps coming back. It's because of the Zero Virus."

"You're not making any sense!"

"Allow me to show you," Sigma began and walked to a large box of some sort hidden underneath a curtain. "My Reploid army!" He threw back the curtain to reveal a cage full of zombies. "This is it, X! Our final battle!"

"Kyle! This is my fight!" Rootbeer yelled and readied his tennis ball cannon.

"You're gonna use that?" Kyle yelled. Sigma grabbed a plastic scythe. "You two are insane!" Sigma pressed a switch and the blade lit up with fake electricity. He laughed as he opened the cage full of zombies. Kyle raised his pistol and shot the first one out the door then proceeded to say the most ridiculous thing he'd ever heard in his life: "I'll take care of the Reploids. Sigma is all yours."

Sigma ran towards Rootbeer with his scythe raised overhead. He brought it down but Rootbeer dodged to the side. Rootbeer shot a tennis ball into Sigma's face a pointblank. "Augh!" Sigma cried and covered his hands with his face. Rootbeer delivered a spinning sidekick to his chest and knocked him over. Sigma got up and punched him in the face after dodging a couple more tennis balls. He swung his scythe at Rootbeer.

"Ow, my eye!" Rootbeer yelled. "That's sharp!"

Sigma laughed and swung again but the blade broke off when it hit Rootbeer's arm on account the fact it was made of cheap plastic. "Curse you, X!" He ran back to the cage where Kyle was trying to keep the zombies under control. He shoved him out of the way. "Come to me, my Reploids! Combine your strength with mine and we shall become unbeatable!" He ran into the cage and the zombies immediately attacked.

"No! Wait!" Kyle shouted, but it was too late. Sigma laughed as he was torn to pieces by the "Reploids".

Rootbeer closed the door and locked the cage again. "He's...actually dead...right? Sigma died...right?" Kyle nodded. "It wasn't supposed to be this way...It supposed to be just a game...but...WHAT AM I FIGTING FOOOOOOOOOOOOR?" he yelled and fell to his knees.

_Isn't that Zero's line? _Kyle thought but didn't dare to say aloud. "It's not just a game, Rootbeer. Not anymore. This is real life with real people. We're fighting to save those people." He held up his hand. "Come on...X."

"Kyle..." Rootbeer wiped his tears and grabbed his hand.

Someone started cheering. A boy wearing glasses and a button up shirt tucked into his pants ran up to Rootbeer. "That was soooo cool, X! You saved me!"

"Uh, who the hell are you?" Kyle asked.

"My name is Stan. I'm a huge fan of everything Mega Man. Sigma captured me but X saved me. Thank you so much! It's an honor to meet you."

"You know he's not really X, right?"

"It was my pleasure!" Rootbeer said. "Kyle! We must get this man to safety! Follow me, Stan!" They both made a v-for-victory sign with their fingers. Kyle sighed and followed them back to the security room. He would lose a bit of time but he didn't want to leave them alone.

**12:01 AM**

**Outside the Market**

"Alright, Jaydis," Satou said. "It's you and me, bro. Let's get Ellie and find an exit so we can get Reid and the others the hell out of here.

"Ok then, chickenbutt, let's get a move on!" Jaydis said and slapped him on the back.

"I'll go first. Watch my back." Jaydis nodded. Satou moved in cautiously. He didn't see anything out of the ordinary. "Aw, Jaydis! There's food in here!" He ran in but not without keep an eye open for monsters. He found a box of Cheez-Its and started eating. He decided these were definitely the best Cheez-Its he had ever eaten.

"Food? Did you say food?" Jaydis quickly ran over to where Satou was as soon as he heard the word food. He grabbed four Oh Henry chocolate bars and began devouring one right away. He opened a second and began stuff it into his mouth before he even finished the first. He tapped Satou on the arm. "Shink Ell'll lek dees?" he asked around a mouthful of chocolate while stuff more into his pockets.

Satou was somehow able to understand and gave him a thumb's up. _Whew, now I'm thirsty,_ he thought. _Gotta find some water or something. Maybe there's a shopping cart lying around I can use to haul some food back to the security room._

"Hey, there are some storage rooms and offices here it looks like," Jaydis said. "I'm gonna go check 'em out." He slowly walked over to a door and pressed up against it in an attempt to hear anything behind it. _Sounds safe..._ "I can so see them hiding out in the market. I mean, they can eat all they want while holding a poor, innocent kid captive." He rambled on while opening the door to a storage room. He was looking at Satou as he did so and failed to see the infected cannibal waiting for him on the other side of the door.

Satou froze when he saw the zombie waiting for its next meal to walk right into its arms. _Christ, I think I wet myself. I don't think I've gone to the bathroom since we've been here but that's not what's important here._ He broke out of his paralysis and aimed his gun but hesitated a moment. He had never shot a gun before today. He didn't know if he would hit Jaydis in the process or not but, that was a risk he would have to take. Better than watching his friend getting eaten by that thing. "Get away from him you son of a-!" The rest of his sentence was drowned out by the gunshot.

"HOLY HELL!" Jaydis yelled and flinched. He wasn't exactly used to seeing guns fired in his direction. He turned around and saw a zombie fall to the ground behind. Jaydis suddenly grinned. "OH, GAWD! WHAT ARE YOU DOING? MY ARM! YOU GOT- Nah, just joking." He said casually and almost instantly regained his composure. He looked and saw Satou had freaked out. "Haha, gotcha." He looked down. "Whoa, might wanna check your pants." He knew he had been secretly waiting for someone to wet themselves out of fear. This gave him a good laugh.

"It's thanks to you, you son of a bitch!" Satou yelled when he realized he actually did wet his pants. He laughed. "Anyways, check out that room real quick before I go look for a clean pair of pants."

Jaydis looked through the room but didn't see any live ones. There were a couple of corpses, however. "Was someone already here...?" he wondered aloud. "Huh. What were these things doing in here behind a closed door. They don't exactly seem like the polite type that closes doors behind themselves." He kicked the corpse Satou had shot and walked further in. "Hey, chickenbutt!" There was a shelf knocked over on the back wall. There was a medium-sized hole behind it, large enough for a person to get through if they ducked. Satou walked over. "Where do you think it goes?" Jaydis asked and looked in, but it was completely dark. "I don't know about you but if we can find a flashlight or something lying around here, I'm willing to crawl in and see."

"There was a flashlight in my car, but I don't think I can get to it now. Y'know, on account of Sam running it over with a truck and all. All I got on me that could be used as a light is my iPhone flashlight app. I don't even know why I downloaded this in the first place." He shone the light into the hole. It didn't really do much at all. "Well, this is as good as it gets unless we find something else. I need to find more pants anyways. Let's split up but don't leave the market. We don't want to get too far apart." He walked back into the store and began to look around.

Jaydis didn't move at first. He glanced at Satou over his shoulder. "Thanks by the way, chickenbutt...I'd've been a goner if you hadn't done that...Dammit!" he cried and punched the wall. _Why am I still screwing around? I should have been more careful!_ He had always treated life like it was nothing more than a game of second chances, but now it felt like it was all too easy to mess up and not have anyone there to bail him out. But he had to stay alive. Reid was pathetic and unable to survive. Many would consider him a burden, but he was _his_ burden that he was more than willing to carry. "Dammit..." he said again even though there was no one there to hear him.

**This section concludes at 12:18 AM, March 21****st****.**


	8. March 21: 12:02 AM to 1:03 AM

**12:02 AM**

**Corridors**

After Satou and Jaydis left, Sam was left alone with Grant. He trusted Grant about as far as he could throw him and knew Grant trusted him even less. He wordlessly began to walk to the parking garage without checking to see if Grant would follow him. Once he neared the door to the maintenance tunnels, he noticed it was slightly ajar. He waved Grant over, who silently ran to the door. The two men looked each other in the eye and nodded. Sam kicked open the door and they both moved into the room, looking for anything that would attack them, but finding nothing. The room was empty aside from a door in the back and a body lying face down in the center of the floor.

"Cover me," Sam said, speaking the first words since they had left the group. He walked closer to the body while Grant trained his pistol on its head. Sam hesitantly kicked the body's leg. Nothing happened. He knelt down for a better look. "The zombies didn't do this," he said. Rather than bite marks, this corpse was covered in bullet holes. Sam was about to stand when a bullet whizzed by his head and hit the back wall. "What the hell?" he shouted at Grant.

"Quiet!" Grant hissed. "We're not alone!" He swept the room with his gaze but it was too dark to see much.

Sam closed his eyes and listened, his martial arts training kicking in. He focused in on the third person's breathing. He picked a knife near the body up off the ground and threw it. The knife hit the wall a couple of inches away from a man's face.

"Pretty good," he said and stepped forward. Grant quickly fired a single shot but the man moved to the side, easily dodging. "Guns can't hurt me! I've transcended this plan of existence and become the ultimate martial artist!" He looked at Sam. "Ah, I see you also practice martial arts. I challenge you to a duel!" he yelled and pointed at him.

Sam smirked and rose to his feet. "Sounds fun."

"We don't have time for this shit," Grant spat. "In case you forgot, we're under a time limit." He check his watch. "Less than 42 hours to go." He began to walk to the other door. "We have to get to the garage and-" The door was locked.

The man laughed and held up a key. It was easy to see, even in the darkness. "If you can beat me in a one-on-one fight, I'll give you this key."

"That's it?" Sam asked with a laugh. He began to place his weapons on the ground and empty his pockets. "I'll have you know, I'm the best in my dojo." He brought his hands up in a fighting stance.

"I don't like this," Grant said quietly to Sam from behind. "There's something wrong with that guy. I'm picking up the same vibes as that other murderer," Sam assumed he meant Satou," and my instincts are rarely wrong."

"If you get an opportunity, take the shot," Sam whispered back. Normally, he'd rather defeat this guy barehanded. But this was a matter of survival, not pride.

"Now then, let us begin!" The man rushed at same and delivered a swift punch to his stomach. Sam was able to tense his stomach muscles to lighten the blow but it was still enough to knock the wind out of him. The man spun around and knocked Sam aside with a kick.

Grant aimed his gun but his police instincts spoke up. _Not yet. You've probably only got one shot. Don't waste it._ He lowered the gun again and waited for his chance.

Sam jumped to his feet and was met with a fist to his face. The man cackled. "What's wrong? Come on! Come on!"

Sam was starting to get angry. _Calm down. Focus._ He took a deep breath in an effort to regain his composure. _Think of this as a normal match._

The man threw another punch and Sam gracefully danced away from the attack. The man, in his confidence, had put too much force into the blow and overbalanced. Sam used the opportunity to sweep his opponent's legs out from under him, bringing the man down hard on his back.

"Give up," Sam said and pressed his foot on the man's throat. "I can kill you like this easily."

The man laughed as well as he could, considering he was being choked. "Check...mate..." He pulled a gun from his pocket and aimed it at Sam. It was too late to dodge. Sam squeezed his eyes shut, unable to face his death, and the sound of a gunshot filled the room.

Sam slowly opened his eyes. There was a bullet hole in the man's temple. He let out a sigh of relief.

"I took the shot." Grant's voice made him jump. Grant knelt to take the key from the corpse. "Christ, the outbreak is making _everyone_ batshit insane."

"Grant...thanks..."

"Listen, I don't like you and I know you don't like me, but we have to work together to survive." He turned to Sam. "Got it?" Same nodded. "Good. Let's go." He opened the door to the parking garage.

It was packed with hundreds of the undead. "Okay then...," Sam said and pulled the door closed.

"Having second thoughts?" Grant asked in a tone that could almost be mistaken as joking.

"We can't back out now. Those people in the security room are savage opportunists. If you want to be betrayed, go ahead and go back." He opened the door again and quietly walked in. To the left, he spotted four forklifts. They had steel-caged doors and Plexiglass windows. "We could take those," he suggested to Grant.

"Bad idea," Grant began. "They don't go fast enough to ward off those things, even if one us provides cover-fire. I've seen some that could keep up with my cruiser. And their hands...I don't even know if I would call them hands. When I left Andrew in the parking lot, they practically tore him ap-" He stopped. He had never mentioned the story to anyone up to this point and didn't plan on doing so now. He continued as if he hadn't mentioned it at all. "Uh, anyways. My point is: if we use those, we die."

Sam looked confused when Grant said something about someone named Andrew but decided not to pry if he wasn't going to talk about it. "Well, do you have any other ideas then?"

Grant looked around more. He had served a good year as a mall cop so he figured he would have more expertise in this department. After thinking for a brief period, he spoke. "We can go around them. Follow me." He walked into the garage and turned to the right. "There should be a- ah, here it is." There was an elevator platform that would take them to the walkways above the ground floor. "We can go up using this, walking safely across, and come back down on the other side." He paused. "Only problem is, we need a code to access it."

"Sounds good to me," Sam said. "We just gotta find the code, right? Somebody's bound to have it written down somewhere."

"But where?"

**12:23 AM**

**Supermarket**

"Jaydis? J...Jaydis!" Reid stumbled into the market. He ached all over and was covered in cuts and scrapes. He banged himself up pretty good trying to avoid getting eaten by the zombies. He had never in his life imaged the brutalities he committed in order to survive. He was safer out here though. Jaydis had told him to stay in the security room but he wasn't going to wait to be sold out next.

He could've sworn he say Jaydis and Satou go in here but neither were in sight. He noticed the wrappers and bags strewn about and was overcome by hunger. He tore into a bag of Cool Ranch Dorritos and chewed happily. He decided he would resume the search for Jaydis after he rested and got a little food in his belly.

In the back of the market, Satou finally found a small clothes section. He had stumbled across a few bodies along the way, but hadn't been able to bring himself to take their pants. Much less put them on. He selected a pair of tan cargo pants from the rack that was almost identical to his current pair. Almost his entire wardrobe was comprised of cargo pants and video game t-shirts. He pulled off his pants and realized that he needed new boxers too.

It was then that he heard a crash from the front of the store and went to go check it out. There was a figure hunched over a bag of chips taken from a fallen shelf. His first instinct was that it was a zombie but then that little old thing called logic kicked in. Why would a zombie eat chips?

Satou kept his gun up and inched closer. As he did, the shape began to look familiar. "Reid...?" he called quietly. "Reid! It _is_ you! What are you doing here? I thought Jaydis told you to stay put."

Reid jumped up and threw his arms around Satou. "I'm so glad I found you!" he said, tears spilling from his eyes. "Where's Jaydis? Is he here?"

Jaydis came walking out of a nearby aisle. "Do my ears deceive me? Is that-?" He stopped in his tracks when he saw Reid and Satou. "Chickenbutt, why are you hugging Reid and not wearing pants?"

"Funny story actually," Satou began but didn't get the chance to finish as Jaydis knocked him aside and took Reid into his arms.

"Jaydis!" Reid sobbed and began to cry again. "Let me stay with you guys! I don't want to go back!"

"Ssh. Alright," Jaydis said, stroking Reid's hair. "You can come with us. I'll keep you safe."

"I'm, uh, gonna go get some pants," Satou said and began to walk away.

"Hurry back, chickenbutt," Jaydis said. He held up a flashlight. "Look what I found."

"I don't know if I've told you this lately, but you're amazing," Satou said with a grin.

"I try," Jaydis said and smiled back.

Satou briskly jogged back to the clothes section. After a quick glance to make sure no one way looking, though he doubted anyone would be here, he took off his boxers and put on a new pair. Then he pulled on the pair of pants he had found earlier and returned to Jaydis and Reid.

He put a hand on Reid's shoulder. "You doing okay?" he asked.

Reid nodded. "Yeah, I'm better now. It was scary on the way over but I feel safe here."

"We should stock up on supplies while we're here," Jaydis said and grabbed a bag. "Who knows when we'll find food again. Too bad there's no microwave. I could really go for a-"

"Breakfast burrito," Reid finished and they both started laughing. Satou didn't really get the joke, but the sight warmed his heart and he joined in.

They each began to fill bags with their favorite snacks and bottles of water. "Keep 'em light," Satou said. "Lotta good food will do us if it weighs us down and we get caught by zombies."

"Let me carry the bags," Reid said with a determined look on his face. "I can't use guns like you two but I want to help in any way I can."

Jaydis laughed. "We can barely use them ourselves. But we'll be glad to accept your help, right chickenbutt?"

"Yeah, thanks Reid," Satou said and gave him a thumb's up. Reid smiled and returned the gesture.

"Awright! Another member joins the epic party of adventurers!" Jaydis said and threw an arm around Reid's shoulders. "Let's go!" They walked back to the hole in the storage closet. He shone the flashlight in. "So, uh, who wants to take point?" he asked, his previous bravado had seemingly vanished.

"Hand me the flashlight," Satou said in a serious tone. Playtime was over. "Reid, behind me. Jaydis, bring up the rear. That way we can take down any zombies before they get to Reid."

"You heard the man, Reid," Jaydis said and gave Satou the flashlight. He checked his gun and took a deep breath. "Let's go."

**12:41 AM**

**Security Office**

A young woman with a camera around her neck had taken Satou's computer into another room and was messing with it. "That group sure is something," she said to herself. "Why are they all risking their lives for that girl? And what did those two see on this computer?" She always brought a hand-charger for her digital camera and by a stroke of luck, it worked on Satou's laptop. She had been turning the crank until she thought the laptop had enough juice to run on its own for awhile.

"Password-protected, huh?" the girl said. "Well not for long." She began typing and opened a command prompt on the login screen. "Take some of this, and a bit of that, and bingo!" She manged to hack into Satou's desktop. "Wow, he can get Internet connection here." She browsed the files on his desktop. "He's not a bad writer...wait, what's this?" She opened the note from the man calling himself "The First Son". "...What the hell?"

Before she had a chance to read it all, the door in the other room flew open and armored soldiers carrying machine guns.

"Thank God! We're saved!" one of the survivors cried and jumped to his feet. He was forcefully shoved down and shot in the head.

Another survivor tried to run but she was shot in the back. The survivors began to scream and tried and tried to escape. They were mowed down by a stream of bullets. A couple tried to fight the soldiers but it was a hopeless attempt.

"Time to go!" the reporter said to herself and closed the laptop. She shoved the charger in her jacket pocket and ran to a nearby ventilation shaft and removed the cover. "Good thing I checked for a backup escape route," she said with a smirk. "I think I'm getting the hang of this reporter thing." She crawled into the vent, grabbed the laptop, and replaced the cover.

A soldier entered the room and the journalist clamped a hand over her mouth and nose so he couldn't hear her breathe.

"All clear," the soldier said. Another entered the room and patted him on the back.

"Good. The President said he wanted absolutely no survivors this time, which is why he sent us in so early. We'll wipe them out and meet at the rendezvous point. Then we blow the place sky-high, saying there was a gas leak that caused the explosion. Nobody will know we were ever here." The two soldiers left the room. But not before the hidden reporter caught a glimpse of the armband sewed onto the soldiers' forearms.

"ZES".

**This section concludes at 1:03 AM on March 21****st****.**


End file.
